Last week, I began to teach in front of the classroom more. Since my co-op repeats her lessons, I would watch her the first time and then teach her later periods. For one of the days, I reviewed with the class different dialogue tags (she giggled, he blurted, etc.) and presented a powerpoint about theme. The students had a worksheet that went along with the theme powerpoint. I was a little surprised that the students were not able to write their notes down in conjunction with the powerpoint. The worksheet had fill in the blanks, but the students couldn't keep up. They were really tense about making sure that they had the exact right word and didn't think to paraphrase. "Which number are we on?! You skipped one!!" This behavior is one I'm familiar with. With note-taking in middle school, I was able to write notes quickly because I was able to distinguish what was important and not. However, I remember many of my peers in class looking up at the powerpoint or notes after every word they wrote. They were copying verbatim. This experience just makes me wonder how teachers teach their students what to copy and what they can leave out. Short-hand and using bullets come to mind.
My co-op was not in school Thursday due to illness. I worked with the substitute to run the classes for the day. Substitutes... when kids hear they have a sub, they take it as their day off. Don't they? From my experience, students were very disrespectful to substitutes because they weren't the "real teacher." So, kids acted up and got nothing done. The subs weren't sure how to handle to students and just tried to cover the material. Thursday only reinforced this notion of mine.
Mrs. D, the substitute, yelled out the instructions for an activity over the giggles and chatter of the students. The students ran around, grabbed their white boards and markers, and eventually found their way back to their seats. At this point, I felt that Mrs. D wasn't using any, or enough techniques to manage behavior. I asked Mrs. D what else we were doing in class. She showed me the objectives and activities the students would be doing. She also asked if I'd want to help teach. I was glad she asked. And I think she was glad she asked too.
I taught the following classes. The first class is known for their behavioral problems. I've seen it through my weeks in class as well. Many kids cause distractions and do not listen. Having said that, it was a little tough. Many times I had to yell. Many times I had to use proximity. I know that my co-op wouldn't have let the noise level be so high as it was. Eventually, with the help of the sub, the students got to work. But I had to stand right next to two boys, in order for them to focus and stop talking to each other. Next, was reading Marely and Me. They were more attentive, though there was still some giggling. "What's funny? Tell me, I want to know" and "I'm not reading till it's quiet" were some of the comments I had to make with a cold face in order to stop the chatter. I quickly had to remind myself that they... are middle school students... not adults. Asking them to be quiet nicely... just won't work. Like Mrs. McDowell suggested in EDSE class, I had to use the evil eye. I didn't let the class leave until they were all quiet and in their seats. Some decided to keep talking so I grabbed my notebook and started to write their names down. This seemed to work. I could tell that they were getting suspicious and worried. "What are you writing??" one said with big eyes.
The second class went much better. They loved when I read Marely and Me.
On Friday, as I was walking to class, one of the girls in my class stopped to tell me that my co-op said good things about me... but... "you didn't hear it from me." When I saw my co-op, she told me that the students really enjoyed my teaching. I guess she asked them how the sub and I were. She seemed really pleased. "I heard you took over the class." "You must feel more confident and comfortable with the class." "Isn't it a great feeling?" And at the end of Friday, she said my teaching improved. This was very encouraging to me that both my co-op and the students reacted positively to my teaching. I still have a long way to feeling comfortable with the class and managing behavior. I hope to keep getting to know the students to build some kind of teacher-student relationship.
My final note is about the substitute. Mrs. D was kind, but I felt that the students just walked over her. I felt that she hesitated to take control. Is it hard for substitutes to demand control or respect? Did Mrs. D feel as though she did not belong or have the authority? I thought that the students quickly sniffed out her uneasiness and knew she would let things slide. I heard somewhere about how much money is spent on substitutes across America. It's a lot. But is the job they are doing that one day they covering for a teacher effective? How can subs walk into a classroom of new faces, unclear assignments, and unknown expectations? And teach well?
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