Escape from Apathy

This semester, my classroom has changed significantly. I have implemented a ticket reward system, where students get tickets for responding to questions, exhibiting great classroom behavior, staying on task, etc. They can use the tickets to buy coupons at the “Narastore” for listening to their ipod during class work, homework passes, and tardy passes.

In addition, I have been much more diligent about homework. I have put up a public chart that shows who has turned in homework, and if a student is missing three assignments at any time, they have a homework detention where they catch up with my help. I have also taken class time to individually ask every student if they turned in the homework, and why they haven’t if that’s the case.

In addition to these structures, I have aspired to develop higher level lessons that focus more on evaluating work and defending positions instead of simply defining terms.  After working so hard on getting background knowledge last semester, my class is equipped to have educated discussions about literature.

I am not sure if it was the changes  I have made, the psychological benefit of a new semester, or some other unexplained phenonama, but my classes have significantly improved in behavior, participation, and knowledge.

The best example is probably a student I’ll call Pabl0.

Pablo is an English language learner who is probably at a second or third grade reading and writing skill. Last semester, Pablo came consistently to my class and sat there and did nothing. He would frequently talk to other students while I was teaching, and handed in maybe two or three assignments total. On his semester final, he answered short response questions with such gems as “this class is so gay it look like a gay person”, “this class is boring”, and “I hate this class”.

It was easy to become upset at Pablo. It was tempting to just blame everything on him. After being frustrated with him and other students like him for too long, I tried to get at a solution. Students like Pablo were the reason I used hours of my Christmas break to develop new class systems, for better or for worse.I had no idea if my changes would be effective, but I couldn’t stand just letting the inaction continue.

Four weeks into this semester, Pablo has handed in every assignment. He has even handed in reading sheets, which log reading time outside of class. (my students are required to read for 80 minutes outside of class every week – needless to say, students like Pablo, who have a tenuous grasp of the English language, view these sheets as torture). Perhaps the best moment of my semester came on Thursday. We were discussing mass hysteria in preparation for reading The Crucible. Students were supposed to find read about McCarthyism and the Salem witch trials and find commonalities between them. The assignment required reading skill, patience, and high-level critical thinking. It was the type of assignment that I expect about 1/3 of my students to “get”, 1/3 to somewhat understand, and 1/3 to completely miss. I expected Pablo to be in the bottom 1/3.

As I monitored the class, Pablo came up to me. “Is this right?” he asked, pointing to the question that asked for the commonalities. He had written, “There were a lot of people died”. I was ecstatic. I told him he was partially right, although McCarthyism didn’t involve death. He was right though, both situations were dangerous for some people. Later, when the class was having a discussion, I asked for volunteers to share their answers for that question in front of the house. Pablo’s hand shot up. He proudly shared his answer in front of the class, and I explained again to the class that even though people didn’t die in McCarthyism, they were in danger.

You’re probably thinking…that answer sucked. There are a lot better commonalities to find, and he wasn’t even 100 percent correct.

You are right. It was a low-level answer. However, Pablo not only participated in the activity, he read and critically thought about the text. I can’t imagine how hard the activity was for him, but he persevered in it. That day, he made a huge step forward. He not only dug to find an answer, but he got to share his answer in class. He was on track.

It was a victory. I have to count them all, otherwise its too overwhelming. If things like this keep happening, I’m going to fall in love with teaching.

Teacher in a box – Just add water!

A great article in the Atlantic on how to measure teacher success and how Teach For America quantifies and qualifies great teacher actions and inspires classroom growth in even the worst urban and rural environments.

“First, great teachers tended to set big goals for their students. They were also perpetually looking for ways to improve their effectiveness. For example, when Farr called up teachers who were making remarkable gains and asked to visit their classrooms, he noticed he’d get a similar response from all of them: “They’d say, ‘You’re welcome to come, but I have to warn you—I am in the middle of just blowing up my classroom structure and changing my reading workshop because I think it’s not working as well as it could.’ When you hear that over and over, and you don’t hear that from other teachers, you start to form a hypothesis.” Great teachers, he concluded, constantly reevaluate what they are doing.”

More at

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/good-teaching

As I read this at 7 am on a Saturday morning, one hour before heading to a 7 hour teaching seminar, I am inspired to make even more improvements to my class.

Class has been going great..I made several changes at semester that have improved everything about my class. Remind me to write about them.

Advice for Teach For America Applicants

On my analytics for this blog, I see that a lot of people came here through searches for “TFA final interview”, or “teach for america interview tips”.

A year ago I was doing those exact same searches in preparation for my interview. I am not exactly sure why I was chosen for the program, but I figure that maybe I can share a few pieces of advice for those interviewing for the program.

There are a few key aspects that I believe are important to TFA corps members, and that are looked for in interviews. These are not in any order of importance

1. Organization

Being a teacher requires a huge huge huge amount of planning and organization. I am a very organized person, and it still kicked my ass the first semester. In your interview, be sure to include methods of organization that you have used to acheive in complex and vague environments/projects.

2. Leadership

You need to be assertive, confident, and visionary to be a teacher. In your interview, both give examples of when you have been a leader in clubs, classes, sports, etc, and exemplify your leadership traits in the room. Be articulate, be confident, be engaging, have big ideas.

3. Toughness in Adversity

Being a corps member will be one of your most trying experiences. You will want to quit some days, you will feel completely discouraged some days, and you will be beaten to a pulp mentally and pushed to the limit physically. Obviously, if you are interested in the program, you know that this doesn’t take away from the huge benefits of the program. However, you need to demonstrate an understanding of the huge challenge, previous success in trying environments, and a dedication to the position no matter how tough it is. I have heard that the interview hinges on the question, “would you ever quit the program for any reason?”. Supposedly, answering “yes” to this question will disqualify you. I answered that I couldn’t foresee any reason why I would quit unless I had a family emergency and had to take care of a family member, but it had to be extreme. I was sure to express that I was dedicated through adversity though.

4. Optimism

You need to honestly assess your belief in the program. If you have doubts that its effective or think that inner city kids are hopeless in education, it will show in your interview, and honestly the program probably isn’t for you anyway. If you have a “sense of possibility” in education, express it often and passionately while acknowledging the challenges.

5. Willingness to learn

You need to be confident and assertive, but if you show cockiness or stubborness, I doubt you will be accepted. TFA will not be impressed by your academic success or leadership skills. Everyone in the program has done something impressive and the program is dotted with Ivy League grads, olympic athletes,  former trial lawyers, and other people of great acumen. TFA appreciates your skills and accomplishments, but is interested in people who are willing to learn from them and others. The whole program is a learning experience, and being close minded or cocky is a red flag to your ability to succeed.

In addition to those traits, here are  few other tips.

In your lesson plan, do not try to do too much. Pick a super simple concept to teach, be clear, and be engaging. They dont expect you to have a mind blowing lesson plan, and again, they have pretty much seen it all. Remember that five minutes is really really short.

Dress up.

Balance your contributions to the team projects with listening.Be respectful and don’t be argumentative or always right.

Prepare. Prepare your lesson plan, rehearse it, think about the most difficult things you will face as a teacher and try to figure out how you would deal with them. (Such as, disagreeing with the principal, having a student who is disruptive every day, having students curse at you, getting assigned several classes, being in several rooms). By the way, all of those situations but one has happened to me this year.

I may add more tips later..feel free to comment with any questions and I can try to answer them. Good luck!