PhyreBards

I'm sorry it took me so long to get this posted, but on the bright side, I have my computer back and it's healthy again! I went to see my teacher on Thursday to try and work out the details of my practicum, and my impression was less than stellar. To be honest, I'm nervous about working with this teacher and I'm not sure how to deal with him.

Mr. Metz would only meet with me after school to discuss scheduling, which meant I had to go to Cummings at 4:30pm (I have afternoon classes every day until at least 4:00). I thought it was odd that he wouldn't want to introduce me to the students in the classes I knew I could attend, but I know that no two teachers do everything alike. When I met him, he seemed nice enough, and told me a lot of frightening things about Cummings--that many parents have drug problems; students lack motivation; that these kids will test you until the broken pieces of your soul are lying on the floor around you and then, only then, will they respect you--but it isn't the school I'm worried about. I'm actually looking forward to the challenge. Cummings reminds me of my middle school, which was across the street from a housing project and where there was an armed robbery at the convenience store across the street during track practice. I remember the kids from that school, and when the people in charge were competent, it wasn't all bad.

The problem I have with my teacher is that he introduced himself with a list of his accomplishments and accolades. He holds an MBA in business, worked in business for several years, taught up north, moved down here to retire and write, and was challenged to teach at Cummings, where he's been for three years. He interrogated me about my abilities to teach fundamentals of writing: "Can you diagram a compound-complex sentence? Are you comfortable teaching parallel structure? How do you feel about grammar?" The way he teaches grammar is completely counter to everything I've learned in my writing classes (and am presenting on today in Writing Studies Survey). Not only that, but he actually suggested I show up 45 minutes late to one of my Elon classes so that I can spend time observing his fourth period, so I get the full experience. As it happens, I can probably go on a Friday or two, but the fact that he suggested it so blithely put me off. Not only that, but he cannot give me a set time each week to come in. This week it's Wednesday and Thursday, first period; next week, who knows? It sounds as if the whole semester will be played by ear. I'm the type of person who likes to know what's going on from week to week, and I don't know how to compromise that.

I worry about how he and I are going to get along, but I'm hesitant to make definite calls about it until I've been in the classroom. Maybe I caught him on an off day. Maybe he acts differently in front of his students, or maybe he's just making sure I'm not going to crack under the pressure of the school. I can't say for sure, but I'm really apprehensive about getting into the classroom.

After reading Chapter 5 of Christenbury’s book I was reminded of my 9th grade English teacher. I can’t seem to remember his name right now but I have a vivid image of him in my mind. He was always chewing on a pen and they would often bust in his mouth, causing his tongue to turn blue or black (depending on the color of the pen that day). He would also sweat profusely and had the most horrid pit stains of anyone I have ever seen. However his love for literature was inspirational and his awkwardness was pure entertainment. After all, he would flail his arms around the classroom as if he was unaware of his sopping wet underarms.
As you can imagine, I remember most of the literature he taught us. I will never forget how angry and frustrated I was as he was teaching us Romeo and Juliet. He had us analyze EVERY line of the play by translating it into modern English. I was so angry and frustrated because this was ALL we did for homework. We never once sat down and actually read the play in class. We didn’t appreciate it for what it was, but rather tore it apart day after day after day. I hated our teacher for this.
I soon learned a lesson. After we fully understood the text of the play, we were assigned different parts to act out in class and had numerous fun assignments. He had made us hate Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, and the Elizabethan era. We despised the language and had no desire to translate anything ever again. However, he made us love the play by teaching us that we had to understand it to truly appreciate it.
I was reminded of this teacher after reading “Using Shakespeare” in chapter 5. Christenbury provides several ideas of how to teach the author, all of which my 9th grade teacher assigned. It made me wonder how often students get frustrated about a teacher’s method. Will our students voice this frustration or will they keep it inside, hating literature more and more by the minute? How do we recognize this in our students and what can we do to about it? I think we can solve this by staying in constant conversation with the students about the purpose of the assignment. They need to know that it has a purpose and that it is relevant to them. Since I have been this frustrated student, I can imagine how I would have felt if we were more informed. Even though I hated the method of my teacher’s madness, I had a true appreciation for the play when we were done with the unit. My appreciation would have developed much earlier had we been informed of the purpose.

I have met with both of my cooperating teachers (I will be observing/practicing in an inclusion setting as well as a resource setting), and I am feeling both nervous and excited. I am excited to be given the responsibilities of student teaching as well as having the chance to put my skills and knowledge to work. Both women seem well educated and excited to have an extra pair of hands in their classrooms.

I do however have a particular concern/reservation. One of the teachers has a very structured daily routine, and the vocabulary lessons are scripted. She has already mentioned that she expects me to follow the daily routine. I understand that the class needs structure and consistency, but I am afraid that the super-structured nature of the classroom will not allow me to try some activities that may take more or less time than the schedule will allow.

I understand that I will always be faced with the difficulties that are associated with schedules and time constraints, but I was wondering if anyone else has been in a similar situation. How did you deal with it? Were you able to be creative or display your own teaching style within your cooperating teacher's routine?