First Day of School x 3

I found out that I don't HAVE to do a weekly reflection for September Experience, which is why I haven't posted in two weeks.

However, I have taken copious amounts of notes, learned a ton, and be totally confirmed in my experience that education is the right field for me.

The first day of school with kids (not the day when only sixth graders came) I got to watch three (very) different teachers do the 'first day of school' thing, it was really interesting.

First I observed Mrs. Newson. She is a seventh grade Language Arts/Social Studies teacher. She had 35 kids in her classroom, it was full to the brim. She began class by having a handwriting sheet on their desks for them to work on the moment they came in. I loved the result this produced because for the most part each student was on task and relativly quiet from the begining so she could deal with issues that came up and get a handle on who exactly was in her class. I'm assuming that hse was familiar with most of the kids, those who were not transfers or new to the area that is. I really appreciated that she made a point of telling the kids why they are working on the handwriting page. Apparantly the seventh grade teachers have all decided that all writing (at least for tte first term) will be in cursive; she went on to explain the teachers' reasoning for making that decision. I always hope to be able to explain to my students why they are doing something (at my own discretion that is, I don't want to feel as if I need to explain myself), I am the type of person who is more likely to put time in effort into something that I understand why I am doing, and I imagine that some of my students will probably be the same way. While they were working on their worksheet, Mrs. Newson chatted on about required supplies, she took attendence ( making sure she had a name for each student that they prefered to be called), and gave some background on herself: how long she'd been teaching at Briggs, her family, hobbies etc.. At first I thought this was sort of funny, to share personal information like that with the whole class, but I think, as part of her particular style, she wants to seem like a real down to earth person to her students that has strenths, faults and outside lives, just like they do, and by talking about herself a little bit she can present herself to her students as more then just 'teacher', but as an actual person. For instance, she talked about hte new commitment the school has to healthy eating and readily admitted that she was not the best person to look to as an example. Next she spent a long time covering the new schedule for the school, which the kids had a really hard time understanding, I don't know if maybe Mrs. Newson didn't really understand it herself, if the kids were still half brain-dead from summer break, or if it really is that complicated, but they were just not getting it and needed a lot of one on one help to figure out where they needed to go and when. While she was working on that with them I did notice one technique of hers that I really liked. She gave very clear and percise directions. Instead of just saying "we're moving on to blahblahblah", she would say "put away your blah, and get out your blahblah" so that the kids were less likely to get distracted by wanting to continue to work on the previous project. For the second half of the period she used a note taking style she called 'Cornell Notes' (which is basically a t-chart) to help them organize her expectations for her classroom. I really liked how she talked about how her class isn't just about learning about history, or reading books, but about learning skills that will help them to be sucessful high school and college students. She said "This is your job, just like your parents have jobs, and coming to school is my job, and your pay check is your report card". It is a great way to encourage a mind set of personal responsibility for the students. The grades are directly a result of the work that they put it. I don't know if it would connect for all students, but definintely for some of them. Another saying she had that I liked was "we aren't here to love each other, we're here to work together". Too true, not only about school but about life in general. There will always be people you don't like as much, or who bug you or frustrate you, but it's your job to play nice and get along with them as best you can.

Next I observed in Mrs. Keener (my own teacher)'s class. Her class is sixth grade math and science, and already I noticed a difference between teh sixth in seventh grade in that Mrs. Keener took a lot more time to make sure expectations and behavior norms were clear. Since the sixths graders had alreay had a lot of time to go over the schedule the day before, they didn't have to spend as much time on that. When the kids came into the room there was an 'about me' and a word search on their desk for them to get started on right away. After everyone was there and she had taken role, Mrs. Keener began to cover some of the basics, using quiet voices, what and when it is appropriate to have a snack (only nutritious snacks, and only at the begining of the period), and she also gave instruction on how to behave during passing times and break times. Most of this was her giving direct instruction to the students. She also talked about the tiger awards and other school traditions/ruels etc. One thing that I notices was she immediatly set the precedent that students do not get up and hand her work when they have finished it. They stay in their seat and wait for instruction. Reflecting back on the last two weeks, students have followed that precedent nearly to a letter. You really have to set expectations early, because I bet if students had been allowed to do that the first day, she would have had a harder time getting them to change that behavior several days later. One thing Mrs. Keener did that I would choose not to do, is when she asked for questions, she allowed students to make statements. This would bother me to no end. Something I learned helping in my mom's (K/1) classroom was that when the teacher asks if there are any questions, it is appropriate for the teacher to stop a student who wants to tell a story, or make a statement, and say "I'm sure that's a great story you have there, but we are taking questions right now, do you have a question?" I'm certainly not going to let 6th graders get away with something my mom doesn't let 6 year olds do. Mrs. Keener also made a point of introducing herself and talking about her time at Briggs, and her family a little bit (she wisely left out the part about being recently divorced). She also made a point of inquiring about those that had older siblings who had had her in the past. I'm not sure if this was simply for her own information (many of the teachers seem to put a lot of stock in the way that siblings have behaved, they expect similar behavior from younger siblings as they got from older ones. No one knows better then I that this is not necessarily the case!) or if she had a purpose for the kids in it too. She finished the math/science part of the class with going over the 'give me five' attention getting system (raise your hand and say give me five and the children do likewise, turn and look at you and stop talking). Transitioning to flex was a little awkward because it was the first day, but in flex she talked about what the class is, since many of them will never have had a flex class before, discussing proticols for lunch, and instruction on how to leave the room responsibly. I am so surprised at some of the things that sixth graders seem to need instruction on, I had forgotten how small and childlike some of them are.

After lunch I observed Mr. Ray (incidently the older brother of a friend of mine, small world). He had the same students that Mrs. Keener had had earlier in the day. He teaches Language Arts/Social Studies. Mrs. Newson and Mrs. Keener had relativly similar styles, were fairly close in age, and seem pretty similar perosnality-wise as well. Mr. Ray is a huge contrast. First of all he is only in his early thirties and has been teaching for 10 or fewer years. Secondly when I and the students entered the classroom The White Stripes were playing over the stereo. His classroom is decorated with superheroes (mostly Batman and Spider Man) and Star Wars paraphanelia. He has instructions for the kids up on the overhead. "Find your seat- Make a list of things you can learn about 6th grade and Mr. Ray by looking around the room". This was particularly clever because in addition to his superhero and other more personal stuff, he also had room expectations, lit and social studies posters and other things of actual school importance. They spent some time discussing that and then he took roll call. He then gave a 'tour of the room'. He was carrying around this yard stick and smacking things on the bulleten boards, pointing out where different things would be posted, where in the room was off limits, what different things were used for etc. He seems like an easy going jokester type of guy, but I was also impressed with how he chose to deal with a disruptive student. "Do you want to take this outside to discuss it because you are disrupting my class right now". Totally calm in his tone of voice, he cleanly passed the responsibility and choice to the student, therby avoiding any potential confrontation in front of the class (risking humiliation of the student) or power struggle (risking humiliation of the teacher). And the kid said no, and stopped disrupting. He went over his expectations which were pretty typical, but one thing he said, which is something I have wanted to embed in my expectations when I have my own classroom is "show cooperation and respect for all; no competition, everyone can get As". Personally I was a huge fan of his subtle references to the Prime Directeve and other culture things.. not that many of the students necessarily picked up on it. I also really liked that he maintains a classroom library where students can check out books. I don't know if that is a Briggs thing, or something he does, but I think that is awesome. He also broke his yard stick over his head, which I think was a schtick to get the kids attention. I think it worked, though I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's kind of a gimick, but maybe sixth graders go for that sort of gimmick. I guess maybe I'm into being a bit more genuine? The last thing, which I also liked and think could totally be applied to math was an info card, he has them write abit about the summer reading experiences, what do they like to read etc. and finally had them answer they question "why read?" Which is deceptivly deep and philosophical should a student decide to take it in that direction.

So as I said an enlightening, contrasting and exhausting first day. I think this is an exhausting enough blog as well, so I will pick up with the second day of school and the rest of the week later.