Collaboration

One thing that I think makes being a teacher easier (besides making a person a better teacher) is collaborating ideas with others.  I have been blessed at every school so far to work with many people who love sharing ideas.  Even now, everyone on the English hall goes around sharing ideas.  A lot of people have great ideas, and the cooperation creates a fantastic environment.  This is probably one of the reasons I like teaching high school.


In fact, I think this is probably the way teamwork should go.  I don't know for sure, but I have spent 3 years on the middle school level where they practice the teaming strategy.  About 4-6 teachers are placed on a team where they have mostly (or all) of the same students, and the idea is that they are to work together in order to best serve the students and provide consistency.  I do think that there has to be a more efficient way to do teaming because I have seen a few recurring issues with it despite how great a team may be. 


 #1 There are always extra meetings when you have a team.  You have to have your department meetings, your regular school meetings, there are (of course) parent/teacher conferences, and then you have to take time to meet as a team.  I have seen a contrast in the amount of time that frees up when you don't have that extra team.


#2 Everybody tries to be almost the same, but really not everyone is the same.  So, somebody doesn't fail a kid in his/her class (even if the child deserves it) because nobody else on that team is.  The teacher starts to wonder if there is something wrong with him/her because he/she is the only one struggling with that student.


#3 Somebody doesn't like the way another person is doing things in their class.  It creates unnecessary tension.  People who should get along start judging each other (for no good reason really).  It's mostly that Mrs. Teacher A is not doing things the way Mrs. Teacher B is doing them and Mrs. Teacher B is not happy with that.  


People cannot possibly all be the same no matter how hard they try.  I have also found that, most of the desired cohesion is maybe more than anybody needs.


Oh, and that does bring me to another point...


#4 Kids LOVE to use it as a tool. Mrs. A let us do it.  So, why can't you, Mrs. B? I like Mrs. A better.  


I think it's good for the students to learn that all teachers are different and just do things different ways and that is okay.  This might be the difference between the ages in middle school and high school.  But I haven't seen it with high schoolers.  They just seem to accept that every teacher is different and they need to adapt to different teachers.


Okay, so with all that said, I DO see SO MANY positive aspects of collaboration...WHEN it is done in the better interest of others.  I'm getting GREAT ideas from other teachers.  And I do believe that this is the teamwork that fuels our energy, frees up our time, and increases our passion for teaching.


I also see the positive aspects of having teams.


#1 Everyone plans a conference together.  No teacher is alone to be targeted and harassed by a parent.  That is a VERY important thing.


#2 It does provide consistency and, if there is a child who needs help, more people are able to get together in order to help that child.


#3 It is a lot easier to plan events and field trips because the students are always going to the same group of teachers.


#4 It can help the school better organize schedules for students.


So, now I seem like I'm contradicting myself, right?


I'm just reflecting on the positive and negative aspects of having a team.


However, MAYBE just MAYBE it isn't so much the mechanism as it is the people and THEIR attitudes.


Because, honestly, I have even seen teachers in department meetings who are supposed to just be sharing ideas turn it negative.  One teacher has an idea and another one says, "Well, I wouldn't do it that way." Why say that? Are you better? Some teachers are not as interested in really getting good ideas as they are in getting recognized for their ideas.  


So maybe, despite what the structure is, the root of the problem is selfishness.  I don't know if that is it for sure.  I'm just reflecting. 


All I know is that I have been working with some great teachers these past 4 years who love sharing ideas.  I have been taking other people's ideas and using them, and other people have been taking mine.  Actually, during my first year of teaching, I created a puzzle for adjectives and nouns.  The students had to put the puzzle together in order to match up the adjective with the noun it was describing.  The next year, I saw my puzzle format (that I drew by hand) being copied and used by a math teacher for math problems! Ha! It does feel good to see an idea like that.  


A great teacher I was fortunate to work with (you know who you are ;) ) Had an idea where students chose books to read.  Then, in final-four format.  They went head-to-head to defend why THEIR book was the best! That was such a great idea.  I am definitely going to use it.  


I knew a teacher who was great at making things artistic.  For example, each student would take a difficult vocabulary word, make a poster about it, and write a paragraph on what the word was about on the back.  She'd cover up their names, put numbers on the posters, and then the students would vote on the most convincing one.  It was a lot of fun.


So, I know this is getting long and I seem to be going nowhere.  I was actually going to write this blog to announce that I am going to be posting teaching ideas on here (my own and that of other teachers) for all of you to read and comment on.  Because even a GREAT idea can be made better.  Sometimes somebody can pick up on one little thing and help the lesson tremendously.


I somehow felt compelled to write about collaboration in general.  But ANYWAY, I am going to start posting a variety of ideas on here.   And I'm excited to see what other people can add.


:)

I said DOCTOR, ain't there nothin' I can take?

Late Saturday night, I felt a sharp cramp or pain in my lower right side.  It alarmed me a little, but I figured that if it just went away, I wouldn't worry about it.  Well, it did go away.....only to come back Sunday evening at around 5:30 p.m. and then persist.  I wasn't sure what I should do because it was a Sunday evening and the only thing open would be an emergency room.  It wasn't exactly as much of an emergency as it was discomfort combined with the fact that my temperature was going up quickly.  I didn't want to have to miss work, and it was early enough to get into the ER (plus we were kind of worried it could be a bigger deal if it came back stronger).  So, I decided I might as well go to the ER and see what was going on.

I'd been having symptoms for awhile of nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, elevated temperatures, and now a sharp pain in my right side.  I went in, told them what was going on.  Of course, they tested for pregnancy only to have it come up negative.  I was taken back where a somewhat absent-minded doctor began questioning me.  He was having trouble holding onto the facts I was giving him, but was SURE I wasn't pregnant.  Well, GOOD...that's GREAT! I don't care about that anymore.  Let's find out what was going on.  But the problem was that once he decided I wasn't pregnant, it was like he didn't care anymore.  

He came in nonchalantly and said, "I'm going to have a CT scan done in case it is something more serious, but I doubt it is."  Then, in his own medical terms, he basically told me he thought I just had gas.  Now, I know gas is painful and I have had gas before but it has not been concentrated in one exact location where I feel like something is squeezing me.

Well, he had the CT scan done.  Again, he rolled in as carefree as could be and said, "Well, there appears to be nothing wrong with your appendix, liver, kidney, or other major organs.  There is what appears to be a partially collapsed cyst or follicle on the right ovary (which, oddly enough, was exactly where I was feeling the pain).  So, I'm going to treat you for constipation."

WHAT? Wait a minute, what does constipation have to do with a cyst? I am not constipated.  I don't have gas.  But I'm being given all kinds of treatment for constipation.  I honestly felt more competent in my own hands than in that doctor's.

However, before he could leave, my husband asked the doctor if all of the symptoms I was having could at all be related to an ovarian cyst.  He answered, "I don't know.  You'd have to ask the ob/gyn." Well, we went home and found out ourselves that an ovarian cyst could very much cause those symptoms.  

Great, basically 5 hours were wasted at the ER to find out I'd have to go back to the doctor the next day to find out what was really going on.  So, I took the day off of work to schedule a doctor appointment with somebody who could maybe give me a clear answer.  Fortunately, the next doctor wasn't as clueless about the whole thing.  And, after pulling up the medical record from the ER (this is the army medical so it's all in the same database), decided that, yes, the problem was more likely an ovarian cyst, and constipation wasn't even a consideration.    

After his examination, he ordered an ultrasound to be done to see what exactly was going on.  I went in for my ultrasound today and will not have any answers until Friday.  But after looking at the pictures and then researching online, it appears to me that I have one huge cyst.  I could be wrong.  We'll see.  But next time I need some medical advice on a weekend, I think I'll stick to Web Md unless my arm is chopped off or something.

Going with my Instincts

I hate to see a student look completely and entirely uninterested in what is going on in class.  For the past few years, I've held back from saying and doing anything because of fear.  I'm afraid the other teachers will judge me and think I'm just wasting my time on a lost cause.  I'm afraid the student won't care and my effort to reach out will have been an exercise in futility.  I'm also afraid that I'm really not doing any good by caring anyway.  Am I really making a difference?  At the end of the day, does my caring result in increased motivation or quality work?  


I don't know why I've changed starting this school year, but I just have in an enormous way.  I just care! I want so badly for these kids to see how they can improve their lives by learning.  I want to show them how complex most of the things they do on a regular basis are and that it isn't that hard.  


In one class I'm teaching, there is a student who is always there but not really there.  He just doesn't seem to care about anything at all.  I feel like a broken record telling him over and over again, "sit up," "pay attention," "pick your head up."  And I'm not getting anywhere just saying those things.  I'm not treating the cause; I'm only trying to do away with the symptoms.


So, I couldn't help it any longer.  Yesterday, I pulled him into the hallway and spoke with him.  I said, "I want so badly for you to do well.  I want you to feel interested in being here.  I also want you to succeed." Then I asked him, "Do you want to pass? Why do you seem so uninterested in everything?" He answered, "I do want to pass.  I don't want to go through the same class all over again.  It's just that I work every day right after school until late at night.  I'm so tired."  I asked him if he has time off.  He said one day a week.  It is so hard to say anything about that.  He needs to learn, so how is he going to do it?


I don't know yet.  I don't know what to do yet.  But at the very least, he knows and understands that I really care.  And I think he also really cares it's just figuring out how to get past a difficult hurdle now.

Winnie the Pooh on a Blustery Day

Running frantically around the house on Monday morning, I was feeling a mess.  First of all, I was having some nausea, fatigue (from lack of sleep), and general frustration in the fact that I wasn't ready to go spend 8 hours of my life at school.  And, though this goes against the core of my practice, I firmly believe school is the most inefficient use of time during a day.


Within a 90-minute block, you will, in fact, capture the full attention of the students for maybe a total of 45 real minutes (if that).  Other than that, you are spending time trying to figure out how to keep things interesting and engaging without having them just sit there and finish work with the extra time.  Yes, let's admit it, that's what we end up doing.  Because we don't have any other use for the time.  In one sense, this is good for those students who wouldn't get the work done at home; however, it seems that it is too much time even for them.


The question I have been asking is WHY DO WE HAVE TO SPEND 8 hours at school to consider it an effective school day?  I could teach a student the same thing in 20-30 minutes time that I stretch out over 60-90 minutes.  I am not against having kids go to school, but I am just saying that the majority of the time spent there is done daydreaming and socializing (and attempting to socialize when they're not supposed to).


Even during the orientations I've gone to, I've been reminded of how dreadful it is to be in school and be shuffled from room to room as you are forced to have information packed into you.  On one such orientation, by the time I went to my 6th hour-long session of the day, I'd entirely forgotten what I was supposed to have learned in the first session.  No matter how exciting, entertaining, or engaging some of the sessions were, the wear of the information overload of the day caused most of it to become a vague memory (if there was any memory at all).


So, as I pulled myself together for school on Monday, my mind was buzzing with thoughts of what a waste it is to go to school.  I love my job and my school. I just never have (and still do not) see the point of spending such massive amounts of time there.  And we wonder why our first period class has such trouble recollecting what we reviewed the previous day.


As a child in elementary school, I daydreamed of becoming a principal and instating a rule that all children must have rocket ships to sit in so that they can be comfortable and happy whilst working.  I couldn't wait to make a change.  And, though I am much more grounded in reality than designing rocket ship seats for children, that is still why I want to teach.


I have told other teachers before that I do not like school.  It baffles them entirely.  One teacher once said to me, "I love school! That's why I'm here! How can you be a teacher and not like school?"


How?


Well, here's how.


I like kids, students, pupils (call them what you will).  And I like empowering them for life.  I like showing them how learning things can help them in life.  No matter how much I might not enjoy difficult students, my mind thrives on the challenge of analyzing the inner workings of their minds.  


So, when I get up in the morning, I am Winnie the Pooh on a Blustery Day.  The forces of nature are against me, and I must do everything in my power to keep Piglet under control and from being blown away or overwhelmed by it all.  

Tigger might be bouncing off the walls, and Eeyore will inevitably come in with a bad attitude.


And, though I don't care for that wind working constantly against me, it is my job to round everybody up and make the best of it.....Even if I did forget my pants.

Forgiveness

What exactly is forgiveness?  Do we know?  We like the idea of forgiving because somewhere we know that we want to be forgiven ourselves.  However, I have come to conclude that forgiveness is completely counterintuitive.  I am writing on this because it seems to be acting as a recurring theme for me right now.  I have been around some unforgiving people; I have seen it on television; I have reflected and seen it in myself.


In premarital counseling, our pastor told my husband and myself that if (when) one of us wrongs the other and we choose to forgive, that the subject must never be brought up again.  It is forgiven.  It is gone.  And I know that I would want him to not hold my daily mistakes against me.  Yet, I find myself frustrated with something he does and I don't WANT to let it go.  Please don't misinterpret this as marriage troubles.  This is just common stuff from living with another person.  I do just as many things as he does that I could do better not to do, but I know there are just little things I want to "fix" every now and then. 


Ephesians 4:32 is one of many famous verses discussing this topic saying "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other."  And there are numerous other verses that say "forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another."  Because that is what binds people together in love and unity.  Unforgiveness   divides people and only creates a hardened and bitter heart.


I can't really explain why I am writing on this right now except to say that I am finding myself frustrated with unforgiveness.   In fact, it is to the point that not forgiving somebody to me seems like an uglier and greater offense than the original wrong that was done.  It is as if we are trying to be even and in doing so we turn ourselves into something useless.  What good are we to others if we are just going to be angry? I cannot produce much when my heart is harboring bitterness and anger.  Because then I am only worrying about myself and how I feel.


There are numerous things that I could find to be angry about every day.  On Monday, there was traffic backed up so far that it took me 30 minutes to go 3 miles.  I was annoyed to say the least.  I especially get upset when I get treated in a way that I feel I don't deserve.  I could be completely nice and caring toward somebody and yet they throw back insults at me.  Or they don't reciprocate the same things to me that I would like to receive in return for kindness.  What is that, though? That is anger and bitterness.  None of that is needed.  It is like allowing weeds to grow in a flower garden.  Why let it happen?  It will choke out the abundance of crop that there is.


But forgiveness is counterintuitive as I said before.  At least, I believe that true forgiveness is.  It requires vulnerability and humility.  It demands forgetting about yourself.  We feel that if we put ourselves in that position we will be hurt.  If I just let go, it will be like a boomerang and whatever I let go of will come back and hit me in full force.  Okay?  So, what if it does?  Will that be worse than the anger and resentment that the heart is suffering from? 


I have to literally lay my life down in order to truly forgive.  The thing is that there is something so freeing about forgiveness when it does occur.  We become stronger through forgiveness than through bitterness.  We empower others to feel encouraged.  Our lives are a fertile ground that can be harvested to help others...not a weed patch overgrown with our own frustrations.

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KIDS TODAY

Again and again, I have heard the same complaints from teachers about kids.  Myself included will make comments about students that we are SURE were not true for us in our day.  Kids are so much worse.  They are so much more disrespectful.  And we are so worried about them not being able to do certain things because they can't do things that we could do at their age.


Okay now let's grind this to a halt.


Are we REALLY so POSITIVELY CONVINCED about this?  I am going to go through a chronological reflection and see what we can conclude at the end?


TEACHER complaint #1
THEY HAVE NO RESPECT AT ALL.


We are in the year 2010


1968 Bye Bye Birdie "What's the Matter With Kids Today?"



1967- "To Sir with Love"  This is a movie about a young teacher in Britain dealing with a class of disrespectful, careless students.  They challenged him in every way showing utter defiance.

1985 "The Breakfast Club" A movie about some miscreants who get together for being in detention.  It focuses entirely on their defiant behavior.

1995- "Dangerous Minds"  This is another movie about a teacher challenged with kids who do not want to listen to anybody.  She enters the classroom to a room full of students on desks, putting on make up, chewing gum, and determined to do anything they can to drive her away.

2007- "Freedom Writers" Almost anyone will know the point behind this one.  Kids who seem unreachable even go to the point of walking out of the classroom because they hate the teacher so much are enriched by the difference she makes.

Now for some personal experiences.

My mother, when she started teaching, was in a room FULL of students who had gotten rid of their other teachers and were trying to do anything to get rid of her.

When my mother's cousin started teaching, a student threatened to cut her face.  She quit.

A teacher in the county I'm working for now is in her 30th year.  She said her first year, the students said, "We've gotten rid of 5 teachers. You'll be number 6."  She left 8 years later, but wasn't number 6.

ARE KIDS ANY RUDER than they once were?  Perhaps WE were not aware of how rude and disrespectful WE could be as students.  Now that we are adults, we just know better.

TEACHER complaint #2
KIDS TODAY ARE SO LAZY! They want to write in text language.  They want to use a computer for everything.  They can't even use a library.


Granted, kids should get exercise and not always be attached to a computer or video game.  BUT this is for another point.


Are they really just lazy because they talk in text language and typically use computers for all of their research?


If somebody is BORN into a certain environment, how can you blame them for not doing what you did?  Should our ancestors blame us for not dipping a feather pen into ink to write?  We have found ways to be more efficient over time.  


To me, the fact that they can talk in text language AND understand all of it, shows a great deal of intelligence.  


I don't have a chronological order of movies for this one (sorry to disappoint), but I can show a chronological order of how methods of communication have changed.


Letter writing, feather pen and yellow paper
Type writer
Computer


Original rotary telephone dialing the operator for assistance

Home telephones rotary then the advanced touch-tone telephone

LARGE old school cell phones and car phones (they were high technology!)

And of course our cellular telephone technology has advanced to touch-screens, small phones, computer phones, iphones, and almost anything you could imagine.  We can't BELIEVE kids have cell phones and many of them probably don't need them.  The fact of the matter is, it is the culture today and it is as common now as land lines were years ago.


TEACHER COMPLAINT #3
KIDS TODAY JUST AREN'T WHAT THEY WERE


This could really encompass both of the other ones, but it also details other random things that we see as different.  They seem to dress differently, although many things are just coming back from the past.  They do their hair in ways that make no sense to us (I still don't know why you'd want a chunk of hair falling into your eyes so you can't see).  They don't say  "yes sir" and "no ma'am" like they used to.


Obviously, there are changes.  But again, ARE THEY WORSE? Or is it just not YOU?


KIDS! Why can't they be like we were PERFECT IN EVERY WAY?!? 


I'll side with "Bye Bye Birdie"


No, nothing's a matter with kids today.

New Year; New Challenges

LIFE...comes at you FAST! And you never know what to expect!

I haven't written a blog in a long time.  It isn't because I haven't had anything to write about.  In fact, it's actually the other way around.  I have so much to write about that, if I was blogging, I'd probably be writing 2-3 a day! I am in the midst of many changes.  School starts tomorrow and, as everyone knows, I'm teaching high school.  I'm excited and nervous at the same time.

Last week, I was dreading the start of school.  I wasn't ready because I felt like as soon as I got to relax (after the move and many changes), I had to start work again.  Yet, after being at school for teacher work week, I feel totally ready for those kids tomorrow.  I'm going to be working with some great, fun people who make the environment positive.

I thought maybe I'd feel nervous with high schoolers.  After all, I was just working with 6th graders and even then some of them were a handful.  BUT it's funny because high schoolers are actually just a little bit more balanced.  They were all at the school the other day for verification and every kid I met (even the ones without parents around) were very respectful and together.  Yes, I know there will be many who won't be that way; however, I do think it will be refreshing to be around students who think on a little bit of a higher level. I'll get a little bit more mental stimulation.

That said, if I am ever in need of a job, I will still go straight for middle school.  I prefer the freedom of the middle school curriculum and the fun things you can do at that level.  Often, high school is so "academically" focused.  Listening the the conversations of other teachers at this school, I don't think it's this way here.  And I'm sure there are other teachers the same way.  I'm just saying I still feel more comfortable with teaching strategies in middle school.

I'm ready for the kids, though.  They will have more attitude at times.  No teacher feels like dealing with attitude.  And kids often don't realize that their bad attitude and unwillingness to work is only hurting themselves.  If they knew how much it was only working against them, they wouldn't do it.  But they think they are proving something.

My GOALS and challenges to myself for this year are:

1.) Find ways to show the students how reading and writing well HELP MAKE LIFE EASIER

2.) Pull kids out of their comfort zone into an area of increased self-confidence

3.) Don't let any kid's size, be it attitude size or physical size, be an intimidation factor

4.) PUT myself in THEIR shoes; try to see things the way they do.  Because it doesn't matter how I see things.  I won't get anywhere without trying to understand them.

And actually, this is going to lead into another blog today. It's something else I've been wanting to write about and I can't resist right now! :)