Worst Teacher Ever?

During this semester of student teaching, I want to respond to a series of questions that they handed us on orientation day. I feel that this will be a good exercise in self-discovery.

The first question is:
If a student said she thought you were the worst teacher she ever had, what would you say?

Actually, something similar to this happened during a lesson I taught once. I was trying to teach 10th graders summarizing skills. I thought I would make it fun by having them trace their hand and write the main idea on the palm and the supporting details on their fingers. I had the class reading magazine articles for this assignment. Most of the class was confused by the project and I had to repeat my directions several times. Finally, one girl said: "You're a bad teacher."

My heart fell. Those were words I never wanted to hear from a student. I had worked so hard to make an activity that wasn't boring or routine and she had thrown it up in my face like it was filth. I scowled at her and told her she was rude and to continue working.

I went home and thought about the lesson that afternoon. She was rude to say it. But I needed to have more classroom management and preparation in order to pull that lesson off.

Of course my response to a student calling me a bad teacher would vary on circumstance, but I think that my initial reaction would be to reflect on my behavior and the lessons I had planned and think about whether they were meeting the needs of my students.

Jane Austen Knits, 2011 - Interweave

Jane Austen Knits, 2011 - Interweave

Shelfari

At first, I thought this website was erroneous, but now I can see how it would be a good tool to give students the link to your Shelfari to help spark their interest in books that their teacher is reading. Here is the link to my profile:
http://www.shelfari.com/o1515169195/shelf

Glogster

Glogster is a website that allows you to create a virtual poster! It's a little hard to get started, but once you're used to it, the site is quite user friendly. I designed this poster for a unit on the Dust Bowl.

Does character matter?

I was sitting in church last Sunday thinking about Christina Rosetti and a thought floated to my mind. "Does character affect what an author writes?"

In today's world, so many people argue that a person's private life has nothing to do with their professional one. I disagree. I think that every experience we go through in life affects how we look at things. This is especially true with authors.

Idea for a Creative Writing Assignment

Have students listen to Brad Paisley's "Letter to Me."
The assignment is to write a letter to yourself:

• Give yourself advice
• Prove that it's you
• Address a crisis you're going through while reading the letter

This can be a letter from your present self to your past self or a letter from your future self to your present self. Be creative (of course!)

Communication 100: Unit 13 Assignment

As a future teacher, I found that Unit 13 had a lot to say about how I should communicate with my students, my fellow faculty members, and those higher up in the chain of command. From this chapter, I can take away three principles: as someone in a leadership position, be fair; as a member of the organization, I should do my best to not spread sensitive information; and to be aware of the way I present myself in relationships with those around me.

I should always be friendly and fair to my students without choosing obvious favorites because it could create tension in my classroom. I remember in high school, some teachers would call on some students more or would allow those students to hang out in their classroom during lunch while excluding other students. This made some of my classmates feel left out. Teachers should be kind to everyone because they set an example for their students of how adults behave.

I shouldn’t gossip about students or other faculty members with anyone because it could create a lot of problems for everyone involved. Paying attention to the grapevine may be important, but I will refuse to listen to or spread information that may hurt someone. I’ve heard that some teachers sit in the teacher’s lounge and complain about certain students. This poisons other teachers who haven’t had that student yet against that student and creates a hostile environment for them. School should be a welcoming place for students.

I should do my best to choose my workplace relationships wisely. When I went to high school, my friends and I were always trying to figure out who were friends with who among the teachers and which of our teachers was dating the other. It’s fine for teachers to be friends with each other, and even date each other. However, there are some teachers who cross lines and become more than a teacher to some students. Being a mentor to a student is fine, but some teachers actually date their students. This is never appropriate. Students are young and easily swayed. Taking advantage of the student-teacher relationship is wrong.

Unit 13 really just pulls everything already discussed in the book all together. It shows how each piece of what we have learned to far fits in with all the other pieces and how to apply this knowledge in the workplace. I will keep all that I have learned in mind in order to be a better teacher and a better employee.