October is a rough month in school. The newness of the semester has worn off, and the next break seems so far away. Weekends don't feel nearly long enough, and patience is wearing thin for both students and teachers. We've been together long enough to get a sense for each others' moods, and we have little tolerance on both sides for caring about another's bad day or attitude problem. Everyone is stressed, overworked, and tired. ...Mostly tired.
Last week, I found myself feeling particularly hostile toward my students. I didn't care about their excuses, I didn't care if I hurt their feelings with my comments, and I certainly didn't care about their personal drama. I do not like feeling like this because, in general, I enjoy being around these young people. Their personalities are so diverse, and most of the time, they are just looking for someone to notice them. For some reason, the novel The Secret Life of Bees popped into my mind: the scene when August Boatwright is teaching Lily how to care for bees, and she tells her that she just has to send the bees love while she's working with them, and everything would go just right. "Act like you know what you're doing, even if you don't. Above all, send the bees love. Every little thing wants to be loved." This quote stuck in my heart all day, and I realized that rather than trying to make things go right through force, threats, or anger, I needed to go back to love. When working with students, love should be at the foundation of every interaction.
So, this week, as I stand in the hall outside of my door and greet my students for each class, I think: "I love you, I love you, I love you...." As I watch hundreds of students pass by me during my morning hall duty, my thoughts of "I have so much grading to do! I'd rather be doing that than watching all of these hooligans and listening to their foolishness" are replaced with "I love you, I love you, I love you...", and I found myself smiling at no one in particular. :) I'm going to try to continue with this thought all week. I already feel like I've pushed past the mid-semester slump and can make it through this last 6 weeks.
Meanwhile, here's what has been going on in my classes:
SOPH WORLD LIT
We've finished reading Oedipus the King. Last week, the students took their test on Part II of the play, and wrote an essay about humility, relating it to Oedipus's ignorance throughout most of the play and the lesson that Creon tries to teach Oedipus with his last words of the play. I've also had the students in the Media Center, working in PhotoStory on the computers. This is such a cool program! The students chose to work alone or in pairs to summarize a section of the play with photos, background music, and their own narration. We're finishing today with narrations, and then I'm going to put all of their parts together to create an Oedipus the King movie of sorts. They have done really well with it, and I'm excited to see the finished products for each class!
LA II
We've just finished Unit 2 of the Visions red book. This unit was all about changes. The students will do a unit review for the next couple of days, then they'll test on Friday. I'll probably reward them with a movie that relates to the theme we've been talking about. They will, of course, have to write a couple of paragraphs to discuss that connection. I don't think I've shown a movie to this class yet! It's so easy to get into a routine with the Visions series that I sometimes forget about being creative or fun with lessons. Hey, when you teach 4 preps, something has to give, right? It's sad, but true.
LDC III
We finished reading Night about a week and a half ago. The students enjoyed the book, and I enjoyed reading it to them and discussing it with them. Last Monday, they did an alphabet review of important names, objects, words, and themes from the book--for each letter of the alphabet, they wrote a word or phrase that related to the book (i.e. A: Auschwitz, B: Buna). Then, I took them to the computer lab on Tuesday and Wednesday so they could create Prezi presentations of their reviews. They did such a great job, and even taught me some new things about the program! Here are some examples of their work:
http://prezi.com/_iomalhezjpq/night-alphabet-review/
http://prezi.com/fywxwtas286g/night/
This week, as a reward for working so hard, and so they can see another excellent example of individuals were affected by the holocaust, we are watching Life is Beautiful. So far, they love the movie, and one of them even said he's going to find the movie to show to his brother and sister. :)
JR AMER LIT
This group of students has been very disappointing to me. Together, they are immature, impatient, and disruptive. This is the first year I have not enjoyed teaching The Crucible, and the first year that I felt my students incabable of appreciating the play and what it teaches us about human behavior. We barely got through Acts 1 and 2 together, so I quizzed them on both of those. Then, instead of reading the rest, we watched the film version of the play. They enjoyed the film, and we did have some good discussion after each Act. I just wish these students had more patience for comprehending and connecting with text!
Since they didn't have much patience for the book, I'm going to take them to the computer lab this week. They, too, are going to do Prezi alphabet reviews, but they will be required to look up photos and additional information of each of the words or names they use, and incorporate those things into their presentation. That way, they will have to connect with the play and characters on a deeper level.
Once we finish with The Crucible, we're going to move quickly into Rationalism: The Declaration of Independence, Poor Richard's Almanack, Ben Franklin's Autobiography, and others. I love this period, and gain a greater appreciation for it as I get older. The literature is dry (I mean...it's Rationalism, you know?!), but to understand the period is to understand why it is that way. I put together a great PowerPoint presentation to introduce the period after I gathered information on it during a trip to Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown a couple of years ago. I even have a newspaper from a printing press that includes the Declaration of Independence and a picture of myself with a bronze T.J. in the process of writing the Declaration.
What I'd REALLY love is if I could show clips from the HBO miniseries of John Adams because they show Thomas Jefferson's composition of the Declaration, and when it was first read aloud to the public. They are such a moving scenes! Alas, our Media Center does not have John Adams in the library. :( Perhaps I can change that....
B, I am so excited about this Prezi thing. I checked out your students' presentations, and they looked really great--way better than our old PowerPoint presentations when the software was still new. I'm teaching two sections of Composition II online next semester, so I'm already starting to think of ways that my students could incorporate Prezis into their work assignments. I've signed up for one of the free teacher licenses for now. I can't wait to play with this software more! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I absolutely understand what you mean about October being the slump of the semester. Because I teach at the college level, I think I might be able to expect my students to behave as adults...and when they don't, then I can reprimand them as adults. Last week, there was some apparent confusion by about five or six of my students about whether or not class was canceled. They had seen a note on the door, thought it was mine, and left. I spoke to my entire class pretty sternly at the next class meeting about 1. not knowing my name at the end of October, and 2. arguing with me over e-mail about the "fairness" of counting those absences as unexcused. I concluded my little lecture to them about how this was all stemming from a place of respect. I told them that they can expect that I will treat them with the highest respect, but that I also expect to be treated respectfully as well. I think they understand now that there are consequences for disrespecting an authority figure.
It reminds me of when my parents would discipline or punish me, while claiming they were doing it out of love. At the time, as a young kid, I couldn't understand how you could possible yell at someone you loved. But now, as an adult, I absolutely get it. Sometimes the best way we show our love is by reprimanding students for showing disrespect or by holding them to a (completely achievable) specific standard of behavior and work ethic. You're spot on to remind all of us in education (teachers and students both) that we have to conduct ourselves with a motivation borne by love. When we allow anger, resentment, and exhaustion to creep into our motivation, that's when we run the risk of harming our objective.
Thanks for your comment, A! You know, I had to teach literature courses as part of my assistantship in grad school, and I remember being irritated with the students at various times (mostly for their complacency about comprehending/analyzing literature). However, since becoming cynical about teaching public high school, I've always thought in the back of my mind: "If I taught college courses, I wouldn't have to deal with this ridiculousness." ...and by ridiculousness, I mean: complaints about a rule, due date, or consequence not being fair; heads down on desks; immaturity levels; disrespectful attitudes and language; and general laziness. What you said made me realize that education, no matter where it is, is a tough job! I'm sure you've had to deal with everything I just listed (the things I hate most about high school students!).
ReplyDeleteToday was a particularly challenging day for me. The boys especially had so much attitude, and they seemed to think I woke up blind, deaf, and stupid this morning. I would say: "Stop hitting so-and-so," and I would get back, "I wasn't hitting him. You didn't even see me doing anything. What was I doing?" Ugh. It's even worse when 4-5 of them are acting that way all at once. No one should have to deal with that mess at their place of work. I thought: "How dare you even THINK you can speak to me like that!" But I said: "Just stop whatever it was or I'll send you to the office and the principle can figure it out." To this, I received the classic, "Whatever. Anyways...."
Tomorrow is a new day. :)