It’s Not Because They’re Mean

I want to reflect on this (and the other reflections from students who taught the class) in a future post, but for now I just wanted to share…

I learned that teachers actually have a really difficult job that they make look really easy because they do it all the time. I realized that they create lesson plans every night, and then teach class the next day. They always have to grade assignments and evaluate student participation. I think that by being able to teach a class you have to know ridiculous amounts about your area of study, and this is why people go to college to be teachers, so that they are able to teach classes on a certain subject. I’ve learned why teachers get so stressed about things being late, and it’s not just because they’re mean, it’s because they have so much to do and little time to do it.

Here’s to all of you who do it every day.

Hope Realized

As a teacher, you have aspirations, values, and ideas. You try to infuse your teaching with these things, but I sometimes wonder, Do they see it? Are they getting it? Not just the content. Truth is I care about other things much more than that. I want them to love learning. I want them to be curious and to care. I want them to trust their voices and to be good listeners.

Occasionally, a teacher has the opportunity to see her hopes realized. Today was that kind of day.

This afternoon, four students from my US History blended learning class loaded into a school van and headed to Raleigh to present at the NCAIS Innovate conference. I offered the students no guidance other than to suggest that they should explain the basics of the classes and discuss some of the work we’d done in the class. I also offered to put together some slides once they’d chosen what they would talk about. As we were walking into the conference this afternoon, I realized that I had little more than a general sense of what they would say.

So when they started speaking, I was blown away. Throughout the hour of presentation and question and answer the students thoughtfully articulated the goal and experience of the class. I kept thinking to myself, I had hoped, but I had no idea. One of the things that was most gratifying was that the students spoke honestly, willing to name both the good and the challenges of the class. I also heard them speaking truth to power (albeit the benevolent, well-meaning power) by saying things like “Just because we’re students doesn’t mean we can’t develop an educated opinion of what we’re studying…” and “That’s not usually the way history teachers run their classes,” with the hastily added, “Sorry if there are any history teachers in the room.”

One of the students began her section of the presentation by saying, “So I’m not going to lie, history’s not my thing…” She went on to tell how the class had changed her view of history, one assignment leaving her so excited that she read her paper aloud to both her parents. Another said, “I don’t think I hate history, just the way we’ve always learned it…”

Matt Scully (one of my teaching heroes) asked the students if a different way of viewing class changed the way students viewed the world. I thought it was a great question, but I expected that the answer would be no. I mean it’s a class, right? I was just hoping it helped them feel more engaged in history and learning. Instead, each of the students offered some way that the class had affected the way she viewed or read the world.

While I’ve loved teaching this class, there have also been so many moments where I’ve felt doubtful about what we were accomplishing (or not) because so much of it is so new, with so many variables. Yet more reason that today I felt overwhelmed with pride and gratitude.

Presentation for NCAIS Innovate

Below is the slide deck for the presentation my Upper School students are giving about our blended learning US History class at NCAIS Innovate today

Inviting Students to Work Alongside Us

When I was an undergraduate, one of my professors invited a law student and I to be co-authors of some entries he was writing for the Dictionary of American History. I’m sure he easily could have cranked out the entries himself, probably requiring less time than meeting with us to draft them did. However, I suspect that he invited us into the writing process because he knew it would offer us a first foray into having our work published and a window into the world of the life of an academic. On Friday, several of the students in my blended learning class will be attending NCAIS Innovate conference with me to present on the class. It takes a bit more effort to include students in one’s professional activities- permission forms to complete, schedules to coordinate, etc.- but I think such experiences can be powerful for both students and teachers. Students have the opportunity to get a glimpse at the work that teachers do outside the classroom and also to share the work they do in the classroom with a larger audience. Teachers have the opportunity to hear student voices, which might differ in emphasis or content from the perspective of a teacher sharing about the work of the classroom.

I’ve also taken a cue from my professor and asked a student to co-author an article I’m currently working on about the class. I quote students in articles and my blog posts frequently, but this is the first time I’ve asked a student to co-author. While I don’t necessarily expect that she’ll become a teacher or writer, I hope the opportunity will be a beneficial one. I’m also excited about having her input on the article.

Lessons From the Lessons

We’re two weeks into the lessons for the shift project in my US History class. So far, students have taught classes on shifts in alcohol, drugs, transportation, race in sports, and social entertainment.

I’ve been impressed with the way the students have really owned the content that they’re teaching and cared about whether others are engaging with it. They’ve come up with interesting preparation materials (readings, videos, timelines, etc.) and questions that have sparked good discussion.

This is a good group of students, but I think the combination of a lack of strong adult presence and the sense of some senioritis setting in has proved a bit problematic. Nothing dramatic, but things like side conversations and lack of focus, which can be disheartening when you’re the person trying to teach. If this were a pedagogy class then I would have spent more time with students discussing strategies for managing a classroom. However, I’m more focused on whether students have learned the historical information and can convey it/invite participation in discussion on it than whether they can control the class. So I am trying to honor my commitment to act as a student and not intervene during class, but still address the issues. I’ve had some out of class conversations via email and face to face with students who I felt like weren’t respecting the leader for the day.

Shifting roles has been challenging not only for the students, but also for me. I thought I’d done a pretty good job of this, so I grit my teeth when I read what one student wrote on my participant evaluation for the class she led:

I like that she kept the conversations going and raised some good questions. However, she did ask questions I was going to ask so it seemed like she was still teaching.

I’m trying hard to listen first and then speak, a challenge for both me as a teacher and a super type-A student.

Having students complete teacher reflection, student evaluation, and teacher feedback forms has been an incredibly important piece of the process. Knowing that they’ll be evaluated and be doing an evaluation has kept participants on their toes, including me. I care deeply about the content and quality of the class, but I’m also competitive, so I want to get good grades and feedback I’ve been impressed with the ability of those who’ve led so far to give feedback on specific behaviors and comments of participants in reflecting on whether participants “got” the day’s lesson.

After the trimester break, we’ll have classes on shifts in women’s roles, labor, children and work, baseball, healthcare, food, race and education, and dance.

This Is Hard!

Overheard in my high school blended learning class last week…

How do you teach someone something without just telling it to them?

I want to play a game, but what if everyone else plays games in their lessons and people get bored of games?

You’re not going to bail us out if the tech fails?!

What if people are looking at their tablets instead of me? I don’t want to look out and just see the backs of tablet screens. How will I know if people are paying attention?

This is hard! No, seriously, this is hard.

As the final part of their cumulative project, the students in my blended learning class are planning the learning experiences (lessons) they will lead for the class in the weeks to come. Over the course of that time, each of the students will be responsible for posting prep work for students to complete prior to their class, facilitating the lesson, and evaluating students’ preparation and participation. Students who are participants in the lesson will evaluate the facilitator/teacher. (We’ve had discussions about what makes effective teachers/lessons as prep for this part of the project.) The incredible thing about the project so far has been watching students become really invested topics and then wrestle with how to teach that to others.

I will act as a student doing all the prep work and participating in the lesson. I’ve told students that I will not be intervening as an authority figure unless something happens contrary to the code of conduct in the student handbook (violence, hateful language, etc.). As a teacher, it’s no small thing to give your class over to seventeen and eighteen year olds for six and a half weeks. I’m sure there’ll be occasions when I’ll have to resist the urge to offer a correction or bail a struggling student out. In those moments, I’ll try to remember my first days of teaching. The wonderful, painful, hilarious days of fumbling to discover what it was to be head learner.

Southeastern Brain Conference

I’m presenting at the Southeastern Brain Conference being held at my school tomorrow. I’ll be talking about the blended learning class my students and I have been creating (really feels like a collaborative venture) over the past school year. Definitely one of the most exciting, challenging things I’ve done in teaching. Students are currently working on their final projects, and the energy in the class feels good.

Learning Differently

I’m presenting tomorrow to campus visitors about the Blended Learning Environment (BLE) US History class I’m teaching this year. I’ve posted a draft of the slides I’ll be using in conjunction with the class blog. I’m grateful to my students for providing me with thoughtful reflections on the class so far for the presentation.

I wish I’d had more time to blog reflections about the direction of the class so far, but the beginning of the year is always hectic. It’s definitely been a big challenge, but an incredible learning experience.

First Week Reflections

We finished our first full week of school today. A few quick reflections…

Mind warp at mad speed
This year I’m piloting a blended learning class at our school. It’s a 11/12th grade section of US History that meets twice per week in the classroom. On the other days, students have assignments to complete online and independent research they’re working on. On the days we have class, I have to make it from my sixth grade Language Arts class across campus and upstairs to the second floor of the Upper School building in less than 5 minutes.

It’s a logistical hurdle, but more than that, it’s a mental shift. This is my first year teaching juniors and seniors. So far the biggest difference I’ve noticed is how much harder I have to work to read them. Sixth graders are still at an age where most of them will cry or sing or dance or laugh or openly pout or look seriously confused in my class, but that’s certainly not the case with the juniors and seniors. I’ve dialed my usually gregarious teaching persona down a notch with the upper schoolers. Which isn’t to say I don’t get excited about ideas or make the occasional wry remark, but I’m still feeling out the right tone with them in a way that I feel like I don’t have to do with the sixth graders.

Can’t stop
By Tuesday, I was feeling pretty caught up on work, so I coasted a bit. (Played with blog design for longer than I should, read some articles, etc.) By Friday morning, having been at school late for Meet the Teacher night on Thursday, I was pretty snowed under. There’s a sweet spot working hard enough to keep up with the demands, but not so hard that I’m tempted to slack afterward. I am finding that working in the library during my planning periods several days a week is helping my productivity.

I love teaching
The messiness. The intoxicating feeling of getting sucked into a particular lesson or quandary. The incredible complexity of it. The hilarious things my sixth graders say and their sometimes strange obsessions (so far they include Chuck Norris, cupcakes, and eskimos). The incredulity of the Upper Schoolers when I had all their names memorized on the first day and the great personal artifacts they posted on the group blog.