Student Evaluations

I remember complaining about teachers when I was in high school. Ugh! I hate how Mrs. Stokes never even reads any of the stuff we turn in. Don't you think Mr. Thomson is totally sexist? Ms. Bates really doesn't explain the homework. I have no idea what I'm even supposed to be doing! Ms. Porter has, like, no control over the class. I could like walk out of here and she wouldn't even notice. Have you ever noticed how Mr. Jones says "if you will" every other sentence? Mr. Davis's class is soooooo boring. Gah!

It never occurred to me that these teachers might not have known their students thought those things about them or their classes. It never occurred to me that they weren't doing it on purpose. Now, I know, as a student, my evaluations may not have always been fair, but I think some of those insights were really valid.

Now that I'm a teacher, I realize how very little opportunity there is for evaluation. How do you know what you're doing wrong? Even if you're observed 2-3 times a year, there's no way an administrator can know all that is or isn't happening in your classroom after spending one class period with you. The people who really know what's happening are the students. And while they don't have the same perspective an adult might have on education, they still have a lot to offer.

At least that's what I've found.

At the end of the school year, I ask my students to write on a piece of paper the things I could improve for the next year. I tell them they can certainly tell me the things I'm doing right, but the most helpful comments will tell me what I need to work on, too. I tell them they can be honest, but they have to be courteous. I tell them they can try to disguise their handwriting if they want, and they don't have to put their names on it.

I tell them I really want an outside perspective on what's working and what's not. I tell them it's ok to say, "Sometimes you are harsh and people are afraid to ask questions," but not ok to say "You're a terrible teacher and everyone hates you."

Each time, I have been pleased to receive a collection of helpful, challenging, and encouraging notes. The first time I did it, I was really nervous. In some ways, the art of constructive criticism is a lot to ask of a 14 year old . And I do have feelings, and they get hurt sometimes. But they have done it so well. I've certainly had my share of student conflicts, so I've been surprised that I've never had a student write anything that was just mean. (I sometimes wonder why they haven't taken that opportunity to get back at me...) What's more impressive to me, though, is just how many students have managed to offer real suggestions in a thoughtful, mature, respectful way.

Of course I get some predictable (and very brief) answers, like "Too much homework!" or "good job overall!" But I also receive numerous comments like "I know we have a lot to cover in class, but sometimes it's really confusing when we have two units going on at the same time, like when we read Fahrenheit 451 and were working on poetry." or "When we have so much homework, it's hard to focus on doing it right. It seems like you forget we have other classes, and so we just have to cram it all in and rush to get it done" or "Sometimes you go over grammar too fast and think everyone understands because the people who do get it are the ones who speak up."

Those are exactly the kinds of things that are so valuable to me. And it's amazing how much more impact a respectful, thoughtful note has.

This activity is so useful to me, but I think it might also be helpful for the students, which I hadn't really considered until now.

Analysis Paralysis

I'm trying to make plans for the upcoming school year.

I have a lot of ideas I'm excited about.

I am stuck.

I want to take a new approach to some things. I have a couple books I'd like to read. In particular, I want to get through Understanding by Design (UbD), which my principal gave me last year; he's hoping to eventually shift the school to that approach. I'm very excited about the ideas in the book, but it's a significant text, and I'm having a hard time making myself plow through it. As a result, I'm not getting much planning done either, since I expect my ideas will be influenced and improved once I've read the book.

Here's why I'm excited about it: It's all about tackling lessons with the end result in mind; instead of generating a test over what you ended up teaching, you design your evaluations first with big picture questions in mind: When my students finish this unit, what do I want them to understand? What skills do I want them to have? What big ideas should they be pondering?

Then you design your evaluations. Once you've decided how you want to evaluate them, you create lessons and activities accordingly that will prepare them to learn the material and master the skills you have already decided they need to know. It's different from the disdained "teaching to the test" approach since the tests in this case will actually evaluate their understanding of the most important skills and concepts, not just ask them to memorize facts that are easy to test over (guilty!).

It sounds pretty obvious. It makes sense. Maybe most teachers work this way anyway, but I certainly didn't this year. Being new to my school, coaching two sports, and creating a curriculum for the first time, I was all too often struggling to stay one step ahead of my students. While they read book 9 of the Odyssey, I was reading book 10 and writing comprehension questions for the next day's homework. I'm not beating myself up; you gotta do what you gotta do. But it wasn't a great system, and because I was just keeping my head above water, I didn't do a lot of the things that I know would have been great. I didn't have time to plan a lot of activities or think deeply about the best approach to a short story or to find connections in media to share. Also, my tests didn't really assess any kind of higher level thinking. Instead, they asked the students to regurgitate the answers to the study questions I had so frantically prepared for them---because that's what I had to pull from as I was writing my tests.

I have forgiven myself for not having the best approaches. I really didn't have time to read and apply UbD this year. I didn't have time to incorporate a lot of the things I wanted to do. I did the best I could. And I recognize that I still had a pretty successful year in many ways. But it's year two now, and I seem to have no grace left for myself.

I am determined, it seems, to be perfect this year. To do everything right that I did wrong last year. After all, I know what I'm teaching. I have generated lots of resources that I have time to tweak. I have time to create activities. I have time to do it right. I have no excuse to not to. I have time to ponder what the best approach is instead of taking whatever the easiest approach is. Except time's running out. I mean, I still have 5 weeks, but that's not very long to become the perfect teacher. And I also want to do some gardening. And read books in my hammock. And sleep late.

Right now, I'm terribly stuck and frustrated with that. I want to ingest the whole UbD book, but at some point, I'm actually going to have to do some of this planning instead of just thinking about it. I'm also going to have to stop entertaining all the ideas for all the possible ways I could do things and pick one so I can actually get some concretes in place."If I taught poetry first, then they'd have a great foundation for analysis.....but if I teach short stories first, we can ease into it..... but if I teach mythology first and teach poetry at the same time, then that will..... " You get the idea. Basically, I don't have all the answers yet, so how can I make any plans?

If you haven't noticed, I'm teasing myself a bit here. My intentions are good. I want to learn. I want to be informed. But if I don't start doing something, it's going to be a repeat of last year--- I will be so strapped for time that I just end up doing what's simplest.

Video Conference

I am very happy. I just completed a video conference with Phil Toledano, a photographer and author who created "Days with My Father," a photo essay we studied in our non-fiction unit.

It went well. So well. Better than I dared hope. I was so nervous that my kids would be bored, be inappropriate, be disrespectful... but Phil was amazing with them, and they loved him. He answered their questions, made them feel comfortable, and really engaged them.

The experience really reinforced a lot of my thoughts about teaching: You can say the wisest, most useful things, but if you can't get them to pay attention to you, they won't get any of it.

I can make them be quiet, but I can't make them really listen to me. To be successful, I have to make them want to listen to me. I have to entertain them. Whenever possible, I have to hold their attention, not demand it.

Phil did just that. He was funny and just edgy enough, but he wasn't just funny and edgy. He offered meaningful insights on aging, respecting our parents and grandparents, and gave useful advice about writing and art.

But he also shared an impression of a valley girl commenting on how large her derriere looked in a certain skirt--an impression I know my kids will be quoting for weeks, though I imagine it will be edited a bit when they're in earshot of a teacher.

Now, the kids probably won't be able to quote everything he said with such accuracy. For instance, I don't expect they could tell me exactly what he said about how to begin a photo essay or recite his words on the value of family. But they heard it, and they will remember some of it-- way more of it, I would bet, than if he had repeated all his answers twice, but had been boring.

Is being entertaining requisite to being a good teacher? I don't know. Maybe not. I've had great teachers that weren't particularly hilarious. But maybe they were still engaging somehow. Those aren't necessarily the same thing...

At least for me, for my personality, my set of gifts, I feel that working to be entertaining is something I have to do if I'm going to be as effective as I can be in my classroom.

So, it's been a while

I haven't posted in a long long time, and a lot has changed since then.

I left my first school, and I am teaching now at a Christian school where I am much much happier. I am in the third year of being a "real teacher," and I am amazed at how much easier it is to do once you've been at it a little while.

I'm facing again a lot of the new-teacher struggles I faced 2 years ago since I'm at a different school, but it is no comparison to the battle it was for me to be a first time teacher.

I'm teaching ninth-grade now, and I have so much more freedom in my curriculum. It is wonderful! It's a lot of work for me this year, since I'm generating my own tests, homework, quizzes, etc, but it is worth it. Next year, I think I will have to come up with some time saving tactics because I'm not sure this is a sustainable lifestyle, with coaching (did I mention I'm also coaching track and cross-country?), grading, planning, etc, but I am happy.

I have moments--days or weeks at a time, sometimes-- when I feel overwhelmed, incapable, and discouraged, but that's no longer my default. For the most part, I am excited to be learning and improving, enjoying my students, and happy to come to work.

I forgot what 7am looked like.

Today is the first time in a long time I've had to wake up before 8. I was really surprised at having a hard time falling to sleep last night. The jitters are here again-- and early. I thought I wouldn't be nervous for my second year of pre-planning. But I am.

There's so much to think about, and my brain was trying to process it all last night. Primarily, I thought about how my room assignment is different from last year (no idea why), and I definitely did not prepare my room for moving in June (bulletin boards still decorated, etc). Hopefully it won't be too much of an inconvenience for whoever is moving into my old room.

I am excited though. I don't know what the next months hold, but I look forward to seeing God at work in my classroom.

I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

Class List is In

I have my schedule, and I have my class roles.

I am recording my initial impressions. It will be interesting to see how they pan out. Are my instincts spot on or way off?

I have 9 students that I taught last year. I'm excited to have them again, but a little nervous because there are a lot of things that I want to do differently this year, and I worry that it will be a challenge for the students who are used to me doing things one way. The good news is that these students are all in my Lit/LA classes and I taught them writing last year. SO they don't really know what to expect from me in a Lit/LA setting.

There was only one student who I thought I probably shouldn't teach again, and he's in my class again. I feel totally willing to give him a fresh start, but I'm not sure he (or his mom) will be prepared to do the same. I'm up for it if they are, though. I imagine that when I point the situation out to my AP, he will transfer the student out of my class. He knew all about that interesting dynamic. Plus, the mom did say, "______ learned so much in her class and produced the best writing he has ever done.... but we don't think he should have her again next year."

Anyway. Other than that, I'm very excited. I'm glad to have names that I can specifically pray for.

God is not a Gumball Machine

As I'm looking at the new school year looming, I must admit I feel more apprehension than excitement. I do not feel ready for another year like last year, even though in some ways, last year was really remarkable (for a first year).

I really do believe that next year will be better. It has to be. I think maybe, though, it's like eating the first piece of carrot cake after the last one you ate (years ago) made you sick. You know, logically, that whatever made the earlier cake bad is probably not in this cake--- but how can you separate that knowledge from the vividness of the experience?

Anyway, as I've been trying to mentally psych myself up for this next year, I've been trying frantically to get all my ducks in a row, have all these great new ideas ready to go... and it's been frustrating. In my graspings, I stumbled across this great site: http://mspowell.blogspot.com/

It's a collection of devotionals for teachers, and the ones for returning to school have been really helpful. I'm remembering that I don't have to have it all together. I am falling into the trap again of praying that God will give me everything I think I need for me to do my job the way I think I need to do it. Instead, I need to be praying for His hand on my classroom-- His leadership and guidance and provision. I know I can ask for the tools that I think I'd like to have, but I also need to remember he's not a gumball machine. He isn't there just to give me a little help here and there when I need it. He is my foundation, my life-giver, the Lord of all I encounter.

This is a lesson I started to learn last year, and I am hoping to really immerse myself in it and refuse to buy into the idea that to be a good teacher I must worry and work myself into a frenzy. I think my satisfaction and my desire to be an effective teacher are much simpler to achieve than the ways I've been chasing them:

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3

I do not have to know everything there is to know about being a good teacher. I simply must avoid what I know to be detrimental and surround and submerge myself with what I know to be good: the ways of our Father.