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41. Jenerator - 9/21/2008 10:21:09 PM Sorry, AP = Assistant Principal. 42. arkymalarky - 9/21/2008 10:22:17 PM Oooooh, they're the worst. I don't have one of those, either. 43. Jenerator - 9/21/2008 10:23:33 PM Well, I am going to be observed by her 6 times this year! Nothing like busting my hump for a C+! 44. Jenerator - 9/21/2008 10:24:20 PM I should probably just get over it, it just pisses me off that I am doing so much and getting little return for it (in terms of pay and respect). 45. arkymalarky - 9/21/2008 10:24:46 PM Really, they ought to change the whole process by which people become administrators. AR actually has an excellent principals program, due to legislation passed a few years ago with recommendations from people who (mostly) knew what they were talking about it. When I was in grad school I took the Ed Law class for administrators and they asked me to come into the program. Not being a glutton for punishment, I declined. 46. Jenerator - 9/21/2008 10:25:26 PM I mean, seriously. Try running a TV studio! And then teach 5 other classes with 3 diametrically opposite subjects! And float! And And And!
:-) 47. Jenerator - 9/21/2008 10:26:47 PM Well, to be fair, this one taught for 8 years. She worked in my previous district at the 2nd roughest school - I taught at the roughest.
She has been an AP for 5 years.
She's smart, funny and the only female.
I think she has to be "tough". 48. arkymalarky - 9/21/2008 10:32:28 PM Another benefit about teaching in a small school: my reward comes from students who are children of my students and seeing directly the results of what I do over time. I also have strong ties to the community. When the administration becomes more important than the kids in a school (which it is, in the vast majority of schools, imho), it really does make you wonder why you're in it. And they're always showing examples of "master" teachers who everyone else is supposed to emulate, then they wonder why they have a shortage of teachers. As long as I can ignore all that, I absolutely love my job. 49. arkymalarky - 9/21/2008 10:36:23 PM Well, another fact about all that is that you're going to get pissed at your administration sometimes, even those you consider friends.
You have a tough schedule, it sounds like. I've had that off and on for all my career, but small class sizes make up for it. The main thing I hate to do--and I did it when I was yearbook sponsor for a number of years--is move from one room to another. I actually prefer to teach more subjects rather than fewer, because I get bored going over the same thing twice. Mose, in her first year, hated it. She couldn't keep up with preparing for six new classes while taking six hours of grad school a semester. Now she has one prep and piles of paperwork in a different school, and I had rightly told her she would like that less. But she had to try it. She was drowning with six different classes to teach. 50. Ms. No - 9/23/2008 2:26:09 AM I had an unsatisfying day. I wasn't a lousy teacher, but I wasn't a particularly good teacher, either and it's mainly due to lack of planning on my part. Which just irritates the crap out of me.
I mean, it's one thing if I'm prepared and things go wrong, but to be underprepared just chaps my hide.
So, the day wasn't a total wash, but I did have to lecture more than I really wanted to and consequently I had to deal with more chatter and distraction than usual. I've got to put together Thursday's quiz tonight and the review for it that we'll be doing tomorrow.
51. Ms. No - 9/23/2008 2:26:27 AM Anyway, Mondays are a bitch because they begin and end with a staff meeting. The morning meeting cuts into preparation time to the point that sometimes we are leaving the meeting just as the bell is ringing to announce the first period class. That's just poor management as far as I'm concerned, but the solution is for me to be better prepared and just know that I'm going directly to class so I'd better have already gone in and written the day's agenda on the board, made all my copies and hauled the books from my other classroom into my first period room.
The final meeting today is a weekly new teacher meeting and it was kind of a "no joy" experience as well. I'm not shy about asking for help until I get the feeling that someone is judging me poorly for the help I'm asking for. Granted, our Principal had a bit of a rough day so he was less encouraging than he's been in the past, but I felt like I had a legitimate concern and that I kind of got brushed off.
Here's the situation: I mentioned that I need to work on reducing lecture time and finding other ways to present information, but that I feel it will get better as I develop more activities to help break up the lectures.
No problem. It's a common new teacher problem.
Unfortunately I also mentioned that it's challenging because I'm having a hard time finding useful resources because the way drama is taught from school to school is so widely divergent.
The response I got was that every subject is that way. No two Geometry classes are the same, no two English classes etc. etc.
Well, no fucking duh, but every freshman English class in our district is going to read To Kill a Mockingbird, and Romeo and Juliet this year. Every freshman English class in our district will write two research papers and they will all be taught out of the same textbook that every freshman English teacher in our district has been using for the past ten years. So pardon the fuck out of me if I point out that my situation is just the tiniest bit different in the "available resources" department.
Ahem.
But I just smiled and nodded and shut the fuck up. I'll figure it out. I'm smart and I'm capable and I haven't yet taken a job I couldn't do and do well, but it's still pissing me off.
Oh, and the teacher whose room I use for my 1st period class can't find a 2x2 foot space for me to store textbooks in her room so that I don't have to go wheeling them back and forth across campus every morning.
Nor have I been assigned a mentor or a supervisor yet.
But no worries. I'm pissed and resentful today, but I'll get it taken care of. 52. anomie - 9/23/2008 2:43:42 AM Maybe a bad time to ask, considering your day, but how do you pick the plays or other works for your class? And what are the copyright concerns? Will you have a production or show of some kind for the public? 53. wonkers2 - 9/23/2008 4:01:51 AM To me the key to effective learning/teaching is interactivity between the teacher and students and among the students in lively discussion. This keeps them engaged in the material. The worst method is lectures by the teacher with the students listening passively and taking notes to be regurgitated on quizes and exams. 54. arkymalarky - 9/23/2008 4:59:54 AM Actually, it sounds like your school is flying by the seat of its pants in several ways. That's not necessarily a bad thing in some ways--you're probably less on their radar and they're giving you less extra crap to do as a result--but when you need help they're just not going to be there. The best help, imo, would be from a veteran drama teacher in another school who's got great ideas, and, as importantly, great resources to suggest. Spook gave Mose a book of writing activities of all sorts, from poetry to journals, and it has been her best resource by far. She's used it again and again, and the activities are the type that impress administrators as well as being great for the kids, not just in writing, but in learning literary terms, etc. There may be a drama book--probably several--that would be a great resource for you, but sifting through them when you're already teaching is too time-consuming. A veteran teacher would likely hook you up with some great resources. If I knew a drama teacher I'd get him/her in touch with you.
Wonk,
Some of that depends. Students need to learn to lengthen their attention spans and process greater amounts of information than they're generally required to in modern classrooms. They need to learn to listen. There are foundational things kids need to know in order to move forward in a given subject, and lecture has a place. PE, of all people, actually affected my opinion on that. I get rather tired of students expecting to be constantly entertained and engaging in discussions on topics they really know little or nothing about. I long for more depth in discussions, and if there's too much in class without enough factual background it can be frustrating, and it can be difficult to direct. For instance, for the humpteenth time, Obama is not a Muslim. And secondly, what if he was? A good lecture on how to acquire and process credible information in the Information Age could be helpful there. There should be some level of expectation in student/teacher discussions, which means they have to have responsibility for getting the information some way. My best classes are a combination of lecture and discussion that develops from inquiry during the lecture. My kids can interrupt me any time with a question and if it veers off into a discussion, great. When I need to get back to the material at hand, I guide us back that way.
But I love all the workshops I've gone to in which the presenters began with a rail against lecture, then proceeded to talk non-stop for an hour. 55. arkymalarky - 9/23/2008 5:01:23 AM And anyone who believes the only dumb question is the one you don't ask never taught 7th grade. 56. Ms. No - 9/23/2008 5:29:12 AM Anomie,
At this point I'm primarily using the scenes and monologues that are in our textbook. I have mostly seniors so they'll be reading Macbeth this year, the freshman will be doing Romeo and Juliet and the Sophomores Julius Caesar. I don't know what the Juniors are reading. That covers Shakespeare, but I don't know what contemporary plays they'll be reading. I haven't had a chance to really sit down with the English teachers and ask about their curriculum and schedules.
It's easier for me to base lessons around works I know they've got access to in other classes. Next year that'll probably change, but for now I want to make sure I build around materials I KNOW we've got rather than hoping I can get.
As for copyright, so long as we're not performing other than in class, we don't have anything to worry about. I'm very fortunate that I'm not the person in charge of putting on the school productions. They do have to pay royalties on those, but it's generally pretty minimal for highschools so long as they're not trying to do something too new. 57. Ms. No - 9/23/2008 5:42:19 AM Wonk,
I'm with Arky on this one. It's hard to have a meaningful discussion when you've got no idea what you're talking about.
Also, the idea is that these kids are going to college next year. Despite the change in teaching techniques toward more interactive lessons, colleges and universities still rely primarily on lecture. If my students can't sit through 15 minutes of lecture in my class, there's no way they can get through a college lecture.
I have a responsibility not just to teach them my class content but to prepare them for a successful college experience --- or, if they aren't going to college, then how to not get fired from their job because they can't sit through a morning staff meeting or refrain from tossing attitude at a boss or manager just because they feel like it.
Is it more fun to be active? Yes. Is it a better way to learn? For many things, but not all things.
My lectures so far have been sort of Q & A. I know what I want to cover for the day and I know what we've done in class activities that have demonstrated the concepts, but doing the exercises doesn't always give students the WHY and that's important.
I try to lead them to the answers, but sometimes they just don't have enough foundation to get there so I have to tell them.
When we get to stage-craft and history the lecture portions will increase. They'll have activities that support the content, but they can't successfully participate in an activity unless they've got some basic information first.
58. Ms. No - 9/23/2008 5:43:57 AM And anyone who believes the only dumb question is the one you don't ask never taught 7th grade.
Or my 5th period Drama class. I swear, today it was like a contest to see who could ask the most minimally related question to the topic at hand to see if they could get me off track. ;-> 59. Jenerator - 9/23/2008 12:40:17 PM Seniors aren't always great question askers either! 60. vonKreedon - 9/23/2008 3:34:49 PM "There are no dumb questions, just dumb people." Anon
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