Dazed and Confused

The dreadful month has come. The month that everyone in the program has warned us about. It’s October. On the upside, it’s the last week in October. The downside is it’s almost November. Am I lost in a corn maize with no exit and an overgrown entrance? My conclusion is yes.
I’m probably in the most discouraged state right now. I’m discouraged for the reasons listed above, but also because of my recent return from fall break. I spent five days in my wonderful home state of Iowa. In my mind, home is where the heart is, and Iowa is the permanent residence of my heart. Always has been, probably always will be. It’s hard for me to think about where I was a week ago (even harder for me to think about a year ago). My world in Iowa seems so far detached from my world in Mississippi, and the only thing holding them together is the license plate on my car. No need to dwell on this any longer, but I’ll end with a countdown. 22 days until Thanksgiving break.
I’m still a zombie teacher (which is fitting for Halloween week). I wake up, take a shower, get dressed, make my lunch, get in the car, drive to school, set up my room, teach the kids, drive home, prepare for the next day, go to bed, wake up, and repeat. The worst part is repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Anyway, despite the melancholy feel of this blog, I’d still say I’m happy. I believe one of my gifts is staying happy. Regardless of what happens at school, I still categorize myself as happy. I’m a naturally happy person. When I come home, I try as hard as possible to detach myself from that zombie teacher stuck on repeat. It’s hard, but I try. As long as I’m still smiling we’re good to go.
I believe that the latter half of the semester will go by more quickly than the first half. There’s more to look forward to – more breaks, a definite end, and the beginning of the end (second semester). I might have a different outlook on my job when the countdown is to the last day of school instead of the last day before Christmas break. As of right now, I feel like I can relate to my English students. We’re currently on the writing process which will probably end up being the hardest objective for them. They seem confused and frustrated by the entire process. I seem confused and frustrated on how to teach them. Regardless, we’re on the same boat, maybe different decks, but we’re definitely on the same boat.

Chapter 4 Reflection

When reading Chapter 4 of Content Literacy for Today’s Adolescents, I kept thinking of one topic I’ve been continually discussing with my roommate – student interest and engagment. Teaching English would be exponentially easier if every lesson incorporated something that interested the student. Like most things in life, however, that is much easier said than done. Trying to find real life connections between my English objective and my students’ lives is quite the difficult task. Like Brozo and Simpson write on page 90, “Interest is one of the most potent motivators for students,” but as I would like to add, one of the harder tasks a teacher encounters. The idea is revisited on page 101 with “learner autobiographies.” I enjoyed reading about this activity and would like to implement it in my English class. My only hesitation is that some or most students will not take it seriously. Another problem my students might face is the inability to express their thoughts due to a lack of vocabulary and writing ability. I’ve also wondered whether or not my students have an interest in anything that would require them to think on a higher DOK level. At times I feel that many of my students would avoid higher level thinking like the plague and immediately recoil from its presence. Regardless, attempting an activity such as learner autobiographies can only help so it’s worth a shot.
I found this chapter to be very readable and applicable to my life as a first year teacher. Some of the ideas, such as creating an assessment portfolio are wonderful, but like I mentioned earlier, are much easier said than done. Implementing a portfolio would be great for the teacher’s reference, for showing student growth, and also for documentation and later references. Creating assessment portfolios would be an immense amount of work. I’m currently trying my hardest to just stay afloat with a ten pound brick already in my hand. Anyway, the chapter reminds us that assessment is not “an activity that teachers ‘do to students,’” but an “ongoing activity” that includes both teachers and students and the evolution of instruction and learning (89). I need to focus more on interpreting assessment data. I’m okay with giving assessments (although, mine could probably always be improved), but I need to spend more time studying the data that comes from it. From this, my teaching can be improved and my students can learn better.