Teaching Vignette 1:
Okay, let’s talking testing. The word testing has negative connotations attached to it these days, so much that you almost want to whisper it. Testing looms over each and every teacher like a dragon that must eventually be slain. Regardless, they are all busy preparing for testing, and despite their best intentions they are often teaching to the test. As a parent of a middle schooler I already have my own opinions about the types and amount of testing that is being done with students, but as a teacher in public school I too will have to face the dragon.
I met with my teacher group to make a plan for interim testing. We discussed what skills and questions would be on the test and we tried to concentrate on what we needed the kids to still be taught or reviewed. The last tests were disastrous according to the mandated standards. I can instantly see the biggest hurdle for students: the keyboard.
As an extremely proficient typist I am aghast at the idea that these students are expected to be able to type out a narrative, with correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation, in a timed setting. The kids have never typed in their lives. Who will teach them the home row? Are they expected to peck out all of the letters? How long will it take them to figure out punctuation? No wonder one student simply responded with “this suks” on the last test.
I quickly mention all of my concerns. We secured computer lab time to practice keyboarding in preparations for testing. But will it really be enough? I think not. I was a Business Professionals of America all-state finalist. My keyboarding proficiency was not gained by the occasional 30 minute session in the typewriter lab. All I can do is shake my head and wonder whose bright idea this was. We continue planning and focusing on how we can best support our students through testing.
This preparation time allows students to be able to practice keyboarding skills with a variety of learning games, namely TurboType. I had brought my students to the computer lab to take a writing quiz on the computers. As they finished they were allowed to play TurboType which is a game that aims at getting students to type faster and more proficiently with a race car theme. I overheard some of the students complaining about their scores and how they needed more points. One student in particular, we will call him Mark, was behind his peers and although the exercise was meant to be fun, he was looking a bit downtrodden. He is never first or best at anything and I found my heart aching for him a bit. I decided to give him a boost and offered to type his next session. It was a sort of teaching moment as I explained my typing proficiency, words per minute ability, and how to use home row on a keyboard. I settled into his chair and prepared to race his peers, my other students.
The students were surprised and delighted at my participation. On your mark, get set, go! My fingers flew as the sentences appeared and the students gathered around to see Mark’s car take a strong lead and zoom past all of the competition. They were excited to see my ability and it gave them something to strive for. Mark had a grin across his face as I came in first and sent his points soaring. Soon other students were wanting me to type for them and I made several rounds in the races supporting their scores.
It was a fun and meaningful event. The students got to have some fun with me and they really enjoyed my participation. They were shocked and I have to admit, I enjoyed getting their favor. Typing was suddenly cool and this experience led to new teaching opportunities. I was able to teach them home row and a few skills that will hopefully help them with testing, or at the very least with better gaming.
Teaching Vignette 2:
As a parent I always have dreaded parent teacher conferences. Not because my son is doing badly, but I would hate to hear if he actually was. I felt that my inadequacies as a parent would be transparent to the teachers. In fact when I was allowed to participate in our students’ parent teacher conferences this fall I was preparing to attend my son’s school conferences. This opportunity afforded me an entirely new view on the event.
One student, Kyle*, is friendly, has a great sense of humor, and is perhaps a bit more mature than the other students. Kyle is also frequently absent. The parent teacher conference provided some excellent insight into this student and how he handles things in his life. Firstly, it was obvious that his mother was devoted and truly cared about his academic success. She is a single mother and Kyle is the youngest of her five sons. On the first day of school he watched his beloved corgi dog get ran over and his emotions spiraled from there and his mother stated that Kyle was often angry and verbally abusive. Now this was not the kid I knew in class who was always polite, on task, and joking. Kyle’s mother acknowledged that she was upset about how much school he missed and that some days she lost the daily battle to get him on the bus. She was at her wit’s end on how to approach the problem.
This provided my teacher, and me, a wonderful insight into a student that we otherwise would not have known. It also allowed us the opportunity to offer the available school resources to Kyle and his mother, like counseling, to deal with his emotions. My teacher and I took what we learned in the conference and made a plan. We would greet Kyle each morning and express how happy we were that he was at school that morning. We would refer him to counseling services. Kyle’s mother expressed that the loss of the dog was the heart of the problem. She stated that Kyle had saved money for almost a year to buy the corgi only to lose him so quickly. She also said they had no money to get a new dog.
I saw something amazing happen after this meeting. We put our plan to work and have seen a huge change in Kyle. He still has hard days and does not make it to school, but those days are becoming less frequent. The school counselor has noted that Kyle is making great progress in their meetings as well. We are also helping Kyle to be able to adopt another Corgi from a rescue program, although he does not know it yet. His mother had told us that he desperately wants another dog someday.
What I learned I took to my son’s parent teacher conferences. Teachers aren’t just there to tell you what your kid is doing wrong, how their behavior could improve, or what work they are missing. Teachers most often truly care and they are hoping to learn more from the parents than they what they impart to the parents about the students. That was the case with Kyle. The jovial kid had more going on in his life than we could imagine. This experience, as well as other conferences that day, will stick with me. It has taught me the great importance of parent-teacher collaboration for true student success.
Teaching Vignette 3
I hope that when I get in my own classroom I have students who understand my pop culture references. I love the opportunities to connect with my students on personal, fun levels. I feel that we are often too serious in the classroom. The students love it when I get cracked up and start laughing. It has got me in trouble (not real trouble) a time or two. The moments that we share laughing with and at one another are valuable times. We build rapport in these moments. This leads me to consider other moments when I have connected with students.
Recently our students got to view their puberty video. The boys came back earlier than the girls, wide-eyed and speechless for once. The girls came back a bit later all giggles. We knew that rigorous work was out of the question at this point and with only about 20 minutes left on the clock we took the class out to walk around the school's track. Some students broke off into groups, probably to bounce questions off of one another or to giggle about the new things they learned. Others walked alone and still more walked with us teachers. I was surprised by some of these students' openness discussing what they had learned in the puberty video because I can clearly recall watching one of these videos when I attended this very school. I wanted to crawl under a rock after the video and I sure didn't discuss it with anyone.
One student in particular has came to me with about 100 questions. She does not have a mom and having met her dad, I can attest that she can count him out for any puberty help. Now it is good to understand that this conversation definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, even though she seemed to have no qualms at all about asking questions about menstrual cycles, body changes, and more. But all of this was good! This student trusted ME enough to come to me with her concerns. How did we get there? Maybe it was the days we ate lunch together or the times we walked the track together during recess. Maybe it was when I went to her track meets. This student struggles and has an IEP but man, does she work her tail off for me and for herself. She wants academic success so bad. When I give her instruction she really learns and listens. School is not easy for her but she never gives up. We have built a mutual level of respect and rapport with one another and even though I am having to give her advice on what to do if she starts her period on the schoolbus (a legitimate question), I am happy that she knows she can ask me tough questions and trusts me to support her.