Phase 6
My book was What Should I Do? Confronting Dilemmas of Teaching in Urban Schools. If there is any takeaway from this book, it is that middle schoolers have MAJOR IDENTITY CRISES. This book has helped me to remain calm and always know that nothing is to be taken personal with middle schoolers – even when they mean things to be taken personally.
I had a student, last week, to write a note to another student – in class – which said “this nigger should be on the plantation picking cotton…” and “the only monkey I want teaching me is my nigga Harambe, not this nigger bitch.” I was mortified. I was pissed off and hurt. I’ve been these students’ teacher for three years. THREE YEARS. Is this what they really thought of me? I mean, I’ve done my very best to always carry myself in a professional manner, how could they think so little of me? Where did they get these racist ideologies from? Is this mindset taught at home? And what’s worse, they are Mexican. All of my students are Mexican. How can a fellow minority think this about another minority group? WE ARE IN THE SAME BOAT.
I know this book helped me and Im growing professionally because in the conversation that followed the note being given to me, the student (a girl) begins crying and telling me that she is feeling like she is transgender masculine. WOW! So now, even though Im feeling straight disrespected, I still have to stay in teacher mode and help counsel and talk this young lady through her emotions of feeling different. Now, I say “teacher mode” because her suggestions of me basically degraded me back to the most primal life form. But I was proud of the way I handled myself and the subsequent conversations that followed. I owe the professionalism that I exuded with this situation on the advice and situational expertise that was given in What Should I Do?.
Over the last 5 months I have gotten so much positive advice, constructive feedback, and many creative ideas on how to approach my lesson construction as it relates to multimodal composition. One of the most helpful modules we have had, for me, was the session on TPACK. This really drove home how I can link seemingly independent curriculum thoughts into one lesson and create a lesson presentation that is educational and engaging. This is the crux of my project. How can I take this core curriculum, which I must teach, and repackage it so that it is engaging and retainable? TPACK enabled me to take a fresh look at the curriculum and see it in a way that I’ve never seen it before. Ive been able to infuse technology into my lessons in places that I would have never dreamt it being. My students seems to be responding very well also. Im so excited to see how round 2 will unfold.
My group members were very kind to me on my teaching demonstration. They provided feedback that has enhanced this particular review lesson when I taught it again. My colleagues here at Grimes School have been nothing shy of supportive as I endeavor to continue to weave the principles of STEM into the fabric of my classroom. They are even beginning to reach out to me and ask how they can make certain lessons more engaging. The more confident teachers are even trying to implement STEM into their lessons at least 3 to 5 times per month.
As I look forward to round 2 of my implementation, I am going to be more diligent at the “flipped classroom” model. I have done several videos but not to the extent that I want. One critical thing that Punya and Missy told me this summer was to only flip one class at a time. Boy, were they right! I could have never imagined how much of a shift this would be for the kids and myself. Im looking forward to seeing how the changes I make will increase the engagement and retention level in my class!
I had a student, last week, to write a note to another student – in class – which said “this nigger should be on the plantation picking cotton…” and “the only monkey I want teaching me is my nigga Harambe, not this nigger bitch.” I was mortified. I was pissed off and hurt. I’ve been these students’ teacher for three years. THREE YEARS. Is this what they really thought of me? I mean, I’ve done my very best to always carry myself in a professional manner, how could they think so little of me? Where did they get these racist ideologies from? Is this mindset taught at home? And what’s worse, they are Mexican. All of my students are Mexican. How can a fellow minority think this about another minority group? WE ARE IN THE SAME BOAT.
I know this book helped me and Im growing professionally because in the conversation that followed the note being given to me, the student (a girl) begins crying and telling me that she is feeling like she is transgender masculine. WOW! So now, even though Im feeling straight disrespected, I still have to stay in teacher mode and help counsel and talk this young lady through her emotions of feeling different. Now, I say “teacher mode” because her suggestions of me basically degraded me back to the most primal life form. But I was proud of the way I handled myself and the subsequent conversations that followed. I owe the professionalism that I exuded with this situation on the advice and situational expertise that was given in What Should I Do?.
Over the last 5 months I have gotten so much positive advice, constructive feedback, and many creative ideas on how to approach my lesson construction as it relates to multimodal composition. One of the most helpful modules we have had, for me, was the session on TPACK. This really drove home how I can link seemingly independent curriculum thoughts into one lesson and create a lesson presentation that is educational and engaging. This is the crux of my project. How can I take this core curriculum, which I must teach, and repackage it so that it is engaging and retainable? TPACK enabled me to take a fresh look at the curriculum and see it in a way that I’ve never seen it before. Ive been able to infuse technology into my lessons in places that I would have never dreamt it being. My students seems to be responding very well also. Im so excited to see how round 2 will unfold.
My group members were very kind to me on my teaching demonstration. They provided feedback that has enhanced this particular review lesson when I taught it again. My colleagues here at Grimes School have been nothing shy of supportive as I endeavor to continue to weave the principles of STEM into the fabric of my classroom. They are even beginning to reach out to me and ask how they can make certain lessons more engaging. The more confident teachers are even trying to implement STEM into their lessons at least 3 to 5 times per month.
As I look forward to round 2 of my implementation, I am going to be more diligent at the “flipped classroom” model. I have done several videos but not to the extent that I want. One critical thing that Punya and Missy told me this summer was to only flip one class at a time. Boy, were they right! I could have never imagined how much of a shift this would be for the kids and myself. Im looking forward to seeing how the changes I make will increase the engagement and retention level in my class!