I finished my 50 hours of observatin for ENG 505 this week! I am really happy to be done. The kids and the teacher were very nice, but the class was totally unstimulating. All they did was fill out worksheets, watch movies, and occasionally do a little reading. Hardly any writing and definitely no tech stuff. The world we have been discussing in 506 is so far from coming to fruition in this woman's classroom. Early in my observation, I mentioned the computers class to my host teacher and she basically said that I would never be able to do "that kind of stuff" in her school. But she has no interest in trying to branch out and experiment with the "kind of stuff" that we are doing in 506. There was only one tech-related incident during my entire fifty hours. I cam in one day and we went to the computer lab to do what she called a "webquest" on the Salem Witch trials. I was excited for a minute, but as it turned out it, wasn't really a webquest. The kids visited a page on the National Geographic website to find out about the Salem witch trials. You guys can check it out here. It's kind of interesting, and I guess that it's good to bring in the computer at some point, but it just seemed like busy work.
I guess the experience in this class bothered me because everything that the kids do seems so pointless. This teacher is very comfortable with her setup, which consists of the units that she has planned out with all the worksheets to go with it. She is basically an 8 to 3 teacher. She came right out and told me that she doesn't like to take work home. So her class is boring but easy and the kids don't give her any problems, but I don't feel that they're getting much out of it, either. She doesn't seem to have very high expectations for the kids. I mentioned on the class blog, and I think that I've mentioned in class also, that she shows them films of the classics rather than having them read. It's only November and her Regents kids won't be reading another book until Spring. Instead they'll be watching the movie versions of Moby Dick and Huck Finn. And rest assured there will be plenty of work sheets to go along with them. i understand feeling like the kids won't read Moby Dick if you assign it. The book isn't one of my favorites either. So throw out Moby Dick and bring in some YA lit or something. The kids should be reading, period.
One of our major points in 506, aside from all the tech aps, has been exploring the "why"--why are we doing what we do in these classrooms? Why are your kids reading this and writing about that? Why are you asking them to do x, y, z? If nothing else, this is probably the most crucial thing that I will take away from 506. I hope that someday, if someone comes to my class to observe me, she won't sit there constantly asking herself "Why are they doing this? What is the point?" and finding no answer. It's a dreadful way to spend 50 hours, let alone an entire school year.
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5 comments:
Hi Tracie,
First, thank you for your comments on my blog. I hope you don't think I was fishing for compliments. I was in the throws of frustration at the time : ). O.k., on to you...
Your observation experience reminded me off my time as a student teacher. After having an amazing high school placement, I found myself in a middle school classroom with a teacher that was counting the days until her retirement. At first I was extremely frustrated, but then I realized I could use this experince to learn what NOT to do. Although we seek out the teachers who inspire us, I think it is just as important to see the teachers who DON'T inspire us.
Teaching is an extraordinarily demanding job and apathy can consume the best of us. However, the fact that you recognize in value in constantly asking, "why", I don't see this happening to you. It is a simple question to ask, but it will determine your destiny as a teacher who will or won't inspire those around you.
Tracie, I just find this post so sad. I delivered an eloquent paean to being an Eng. teacher in 374 today--saying if you don't truly love it, please do something else. You, an English teacher, have chosen a life in words--not a life in worksheets. You have chosen a demanding life--no question about that.
There's a responsibility that goes along with having chosen that life.
Showing kids movies of these great American novels is a travesty to me. It's irresponsible in the extreme.
This is not just apathy; this is incompetence.
I'm sorry. There is simply no other way to say it.
And I'm looking forward to being that supervisor who comes into your classroom starting (almost) next month! I know the kids are not going to be excited to be doing stimulating things.
Trace:
You know what is even sadder than these kids not reading books? The fact that the schools can't fire teachers like her. I bet she is in the union and the school would have to prove she smoked crack with a student in order to fire her. Next time we talk, ask me about my libertarian vision of the educational process. :)
(aunt) k.
Tracie, as we discussed in class the other night, I had a similar experience last Spring in the classroom I observed. Studetns were forced to listen to the same horrible tape of Macbeth that I was forced to listen to in H.S. and were then subjected to the teacher's boring summary of what they heard and explanation of what it all meant. ZZZZZ...... She requested me as a student teacher, and I'm hoping like hell I get that placement. IN a way, it takes some of the terror of student teaching away when I know that I can't possibly do a worse job! I saw so much potential and in just two assignments that the students returned to me, I learned so much more about their interests than the teacher knew. I agree; far too many teachers don't want to do any extra work, too many teachers really seem to care less about education. Did they become this way over time, or did they enter the profession assuming that what they're doing really is good enough? I'd really like to know the answer to that question...
I just noted a serious typo in my post...NOT should be NOW in that last par. Sorry!!
As for how teachers become who you see them to be when you observe, what do others think about that? I was just having that discussion the other night with a non-teaching friend...we were hypothesizing about what the impact of tripling starting teachers' salaries would be on who enters and remains in the profession?
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