Letter to myself

Dear 18 year old, just entering college Tyler

You're now known as Mr. Slattery.  Some students got wind of your high school nick name: "T-Slat." But now that I have rounded out my freshmen year, you correct them and say "That's Mr. T-Slat to you guys."  I know this is probably a little weird but I wanted to write a letter to you just to let you know that you successfully finished your student teaching and have a job lined up for the fall.  Congrats.  There are a few things that you may need to know to prepare yourself for student teaching.

1.  Expect a few fights.

Where you have teenagers, you will inevitably have fights.  This year I broke up 3 fights and I can confidently tell you that after the first one, you are not prepared for the next one.  A little piece of advice: Don't take it personally.  It's really hard to see your students duke it out in the hall ways or even a class that you are a para in but you have to remember that their hormones are raging through puberty and that you can't control the actions of your students.  However, you still have the power to deescalate situations.  That's your job as a classroom teacher.  You play an intrical role in these students lives and its your job to protect them emotionally and physically.

2.  Your last day will be your hardest.

You will have not just one last day-but two.  You see, block scheduling equates to two last days so they will be your hardest.  Yes, you will have cookies, and cupcakes but there will also be a few tears.   You got a book signed by Alan Sitomer, the author of "The Secret Life of Sonia Rodriguez" and as you are sitting at your desk, listening to your cooperating teacher and one of our students go over missing assignments.  You will then overhear them talking about the reasons she turns things in late, or not at all.  Both of her parents work and she takes care of pretty much everyone int he family.  She reveals that she doesn't get to start her homework until 10:30 in the evening due to her familial duties.  This is literally steps you right through the plot of the book that i just mentioned.  You will decide to give her your signed copy of the book because you believe that she might be able to find something out of this book and possibly give her a different outlook on life. All on your last day.

3.  It happens quick.

Prepare for things to happen quick.  Once you start your studen teaching you may feel like graduation is so far away but let me tell you, between your kptp, family, and friends, your student teaching year will go by so quickly.  Number one rememdy for this is to expect it and prepare for it.  Get all of your stuff done ahead of time so you don't have to worry about it in the future.  Your load is pretty stacked between grading papers, planning, and doing other things for licensure-so stay on top of it.

Anywho,  your experience through college and student teaching will carry you a long way.  There are just some things that a book can't teach you; and that's experience.

Sincerely, soon to be graduate,
Mr. Slattery

Complexion vs. Identity

Humans operate on “first impressions.”  For those that are blessed with 20/20 vision, individuals mainly make assumptions based on the outward appearance of people they encounter.  This includes but is not limited to skin-tone.  Young adults and teenagers often have this blurred vision of making assumptions based on skin-complexion. Assumptions based on skin-complexions often make individuals of mixed races uncomfortable and could possibly appear as offensive.  Our culture in America is diverse and our outward appearances can be deceiving so I pose this question: how can individuals, especially educators, avoid making assumptions and acknowledge that complexion is not an indicator of one’s identity?  In this blog post I will attempt to answer this complex question. 

As a teacher-candidate working in a diverse district and school, I have come in to contact with mixed-races.  Furthermore, growing up in a Hispanic community, I have been guilty of making the assumption of student’s knowing Spanish based on their skin color, and Hispanic last name.  Back home, I spoke Spanish when I was around my Hispanic friends and community members in order to make these individuals feel comfortable speaking in their native tongue. I attempted to do the same with individuals that appeared to have Hispanic origins due to their last name and skin color.  I did this because I wanted to establish a positive relationship with these students.  Never did I consider that I might have actually offended these individuals until I came across the article “Complexities of Complexion” by Nichole Berg. 

Berg states her experiences with having a white outward appearance.  She is actually half Mexican-American and is fluent in Spanish.  She outlines her experiences as being profiled due to her skin complexion and states how assumptions regarding her identity have affected her positively and negatively: “My experience has led me to believe we do not have to choose one identity over the other. Our various identities serve to make us the complex and unique people we are today. And, engaging multiple points of view strengthens the one piece of our identities we all have in common: co-creators of the future.”

Her experiences have enlightened me to avoid such assumptions in my classroom.  It’s only natural to be observant of the outward appearances of students but we need to be more observant of the behaviors of our students in order to get an accurate depiction of their actual identity. As educators we need to ensure that our classroom is comfortable and inviting.  In reading this article, I plan to observe a student’s behavior and interactions among other students before I assume that they speak Spanish or any other language.  This is also just another part of getting to know our students.  When we get to know our students, aside from their outward appearance, we understand how they work and how they process information.  For my readers, I challenge each and every one of you (even if you aren’t an educator) to take a step back from making assumptions based on the outward appearances of individuals that you come in to contact with. 

For further reading, explore this article and the resource Teaching Tolerance

http://www.tolerance.org/blog/complexities-complexion

Interviews, KPTPs, and Mayhem (Online Reflection 2)

So I’ve officially taken over two classes for four weeks now.  That’s right.  Full duty. My cooperating teacher allows me the freedom to create activities, agendas, and assessments.  Although I’ve taken over two classes of direct instruction, the rest of my day is devoted to co-teaching.  Here’s a peek in to my every day routine. 

7:30 Get to school, start the computer, and get all of the days materials ready for the day.

8:00 It’s show time, wait for the pledge and Announcements.

8:05 Start your bell work activities for the day and take role.

8:10-9:22 Instruction, discussion, reading, writing, discussion, etc. Everyday Activities

9:22-9:27 Close out the day, take advantage of the recency effect and preview the agenda for the next couple of days. 

On top of my planning, teaching, co-teaching, preparation for my methods class and working Thursday-Saturday , I have had to take advantage of job/career fairs as well as my state portfolio assessment.  You could say that I have had the full, yanked-in-ever-direction, experience that every teacher feels.  I’ve talked this over with my cooperating teacher several times and she has given me some very insightful advice: “You will find out quickly how to save time, and make time and you will only learn this through time and experience.” 

Job-Search

So I first entered the job-market about a month ago.  It was my first career fair.  I walked in to this career fair only to get interview experience.  I heard that employers rarely hire on the spot, unless your interview skills and credentials blow them away.  I only signed up with one interview and it went great!!  I honestly thought that I had a real job opportunity but it was out-of-state… Which presented a problem but it was doable.

As I’m departing the career fair, I ran in to my old football coach from high school, only to find him at one of our conference rivals tables.   How could he?! Just kidding, how couldn’t he?! He had recently accepted the athletic director’s position and he smiled as he approached me.  He asked me how I was doing, what year I was in school, and if I would be interested in moving to southwest Kansas.  It’s funny how fate works.

The next week, I had received a phone call from a principal, and he had received my resume from my old football coach and he would like to set up an interview.  You could say I was ecstatic! My first real interview.  Who knows maybe I’ll actually get the job!

Interview

I was so nervous, yet so ready for this interview.  I drove two and a half hours to get home, and another hour and a half to get to the school that I was interviewing at.  I had a leather portfolio and my suit and tie ready to go.  I had everything ready for this interview.

WRONG

Uh oh, I forgot to prepare questions for the interviewer.  I had researched the school and planned to discuss the contextual factors during the interview anyways.  Crap.

THANK YOU GOOGLE

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/interview-questions/a/teacher-questions.htm

This link will take you to a number of interview questions that you can ask your interviewer.  I believe that having questions prepared is the best thing to do for an interview.  IMPORTANT NOTE:  make sure to have at least 5-7 questions prepared.  My interview was very conversational, structured around their questions but I felt very comfortable being myself.  Having said that, about four of my questions were covered during my interview so I was left with two.  But thank goodness they were very informative-to the point that I asked even more questions.

My tips to prospecting teachers going in to an interview

1. Don’t be nervous

2. Be yourself

3. It’s okay to laugh

4. It’s okay to be wrong and have flaws (They asked me a question about zone of proximal development and how I planned to implement it into my classroom.  Granted, I had just taken the PLT and gotten the question right, but they had said that I was the first person to get it right)

5. Breathe.  I took a lot of deep breaths

6. Expect the unexpected—the zpd question…. Wasn’t expecting that one.

7.  Practice sample interview questions and have responses such as classroom management practices, why you wanted to become a teacher, why you, and why me questions prepared.

The interview process is always the icing on the cake for teacher candidates but in the end, it’s our cake.

Online Reflection: Poetry Imitation

          Fate

ocurrirán cosas malas. 

Bad things will happen

Your favorite students will call

you derogative terms in a language

that you partially know.  Your alarm

will go off and you will set it for thirty

minutes later.  You will start your pot

of coffee and forget to fill your cup.

You broke up with your girlfriend or boyfriend

and she/he will come after you for

two hundred dollars because your

friend broke her/his guitar hero drum set.

You will forget your belt and your fly

is unzipped when you come out of the  bathroom.

You meet with a friend for a drink. Or two. Or three.

Or you will get sick and lay in bed—or decide

your health can wait.  Another pot of coffee left behind.

Breakfast will become absent as you are

getting the days presentations and activities

ready. Your favorite student will go back to

jail because he can’t handle school and it’s demands.

Another one of your favorites will get

kicked out of his foster home and move to another state.

You will over plan—you will under plan.

Your pipes will freeze and your blood will boil

when a student asks you what the assignment is about

when you have explained it thoroughly. Twice.

There is an ancient greek myth about a father

Who is betrayed by his son.  Fate had bestowed

This betrayal.  The son will kill his father

And eventually marry his mother.  Fate had made

Him a king and a hero.  King Oedipus

Will follow fate and this makes him a hero.

He gouged his eyes out and wandered in embarrassment.

So here’s the light in the blindness of life, the token

of epiphany that leaves you dumbfounded. 

Your pedagogy will be questioned and tested. You will

go to Vegas and spend your grocery money

for the next few weeks.  You will forget your phone charger,

and phone in your hotel. You will break down in the middle

of a lesson that your building principal observes

but he pulls you aside and reminds you

“We as educators are not super human

and sometimes we just let fate run its course,

just don’t kill your father and sleep with your mother.”

adapted from Ellen Bass's poem "Relax"

Genre Reflection 2

Official Response # 3

My Experience Overall
          The semester is coming to an end.  GOODNESS, GRACIOUS...Where did the time go? Well I can certainly tell you that most of my time this semester has been devoted to my experience as a pre-service teacher.  This semester has definitely been rewarding in terms of experiences, in and out of the classroom.  It's been especially refreshing to engage with assignments that I can actually apply within my subject matter.  Another refreshing element that I have encountered is the planning of conceptual units.  I had the opportunity to plan and teach a conceptual unit in my placement school (my experience is outlined in my genre reflection post) which has facilitated my understanding of the importance of continuity and meaningful teaching moments.
          I've also particularly enjoyed engaging in our semester planning activity.  Future pre-service teachers...This is a project that you won't want to put off to the last minute.  It cannot be done the night before it is due.  It is helpful that our professor has scheduled a number of workshops in which we are able to get feedback on different components of the semester plan project such as our semester calendar, lesson plans, writing activities, and etc.  It is totally up to you how much effort you want to put in for the workshop but it is best to have as much of a genuine effort as possible to get the most out of these workshops.  These semester plans are imperative to our planning processes as future educators.  I have enjoyed creating and modifying activities that I have participated in the past.  I have spent countless hours modifying my semester plan and I plan to return to it even after I have submitted it for a grade.  I look forward to that pivotal moment when I get to engage with these types of activities as a professional in the field of education.

A Note on the DMAC (Dual Major Across Colleges)
I just wanted to write a note to future pre-service teachers considering DMAC programs that universities may have to offer.  I chose to double major in English literature through the College Liberal Arts and Sciences at my university because I ran out of classes to take for my pre-student teaching semester (this semester).  If you are considering this program, consider that it will be significantly more work than your normal semesters.  Not only will you have to balance your placement/method requirements but you will also have to balance your additional coursework.  Consider this route if you are up to a semester full of challenges.  I've enjoyed taking the additional courses to satisfy the requirement for the DMAC because it allows me extra experience with research and knowledge of English literature.  I knew it was going to be a tough semester coming in but I have found it especially rewarding (and stressful at times).

A Note on LGBTQ(Lesbian/Gay/Bi/Transgender/Questioning) YAL(Young Adult Literature)
This week we were assigned to read articles over bullying and LGBTQ.  Up to this point in my professional education I have not encountered issues regarding LGBTQ.  I attended the KATE (Kansas Association for Teachers of English) conference and one of the presentations was over LGBTQ and how to create a comfortable and safe environment for all students.  I have several friends who are homosexual but until this point, I have never considered how to integrate LGBTQ literature or themes in to my classroom, until now.  I plan to integrate a variety of books into my classroom library and even curriculum, including books that have LGBTQ themes and conflicts.  I have read many testimonies through my assigned reading that it has changed both the lives of homosexual students, as well as heterosexual students who were vehemently against homosexuality.

It is our duty as educators to address every derogative term and statement in the classroom.  Statements such as "that's so gay" or "you're such a fag" will not be tolerated in my classroom.  I will not be a bystander allowing this type of behavior to occur.  I will make every moment a teaching moment and these types of moments should be addressed immediately.  Many teachers think that issues regarding sexual orientation are irrelevant to the curriculum but that is because many teachers choose to neglect and ignore these issues.  These issues, when relevant to literature study and literacy, can facilitate a broader understanding of the diverse nature of human conditions.  Students have the right to read what they are interested in to reflect their personal situations, emotions, and opinions.   I want to make sure that every student that walks through my door is under the firm understanding that bigotry and discriminatory acts will not be tolerated and that these actions will result in consistent and firm consequences.

Genre Reflection Publication

This is the hard copy of my Genre Reflection.  I originally chose to reflect via poetry but I felt that it didn't completely capture a genuine teaching experience.  just in case the pictures are too blurry, the story is provided below.  I hope that you enjoy reading my reflection!

Mr Slattery

What to do…

Everybody wants to be something-a real somebody, something that defines that somebody. Mr. Slattery grew up in a small town in Kansas and ever since he was a young runt he wanted to be remembered for making his mark on an entire generation.  He went to high school; he completed community college and received his Associates degree.  He did everything he could to set up his future.  In high school, he wanted to be a pharmacist, but there wasn’t enough human interaction for him. 

Mr. Slattery is extremely extroverted and this allowed him to excel in journalism.  He thought he finally reached his decision, “I’ll become a journalist!” Yet this still wasn’t the perfect match for him. If he were a journalist, he would primarily report the news, coming short of influencing an entire generation. Even writing opinion columns wouldn’t allow him the influencing factor that he so desired. 

Freshman year of College

Mr. Slattery was enjoying a steamy cup of coffee in the Conq Corral with a classmate (that was the café located on campus at his Community College) and an epiphany struck him.   It took him a while to come to this realization, 18 whole years, but he finally concluded that his skills in writing and reading were primarily due to his influential teachers and professors.  “If I were to become an English teacher, I could help students learn to appreciate the art of writing and reading.  I’m going to go see my advisor and see what our school has to offer for teacher preparation courses.” 

Many semesters later….

Mr. Slattery is now a super senior at the State University and has furthered his professional education, in pursuit to become a teacher of English/Language Arts.  Super is the correct word to describe his emotional state and exhausted would be the relative word to describe his mental state.  He is now a pre-student teacher and is gaining work experience through a program called Co-Op.  Between a full load of college courses, pre-student teaching, Co-Op and his job at the local grocery store, his most enjoyable experiences are located in the classroom or preparing activities and lesson plans for his conceptual unit that is coming up in a few weeks.  Mr. Slattery is establishing his identity and pedagogical practices one day at a time. 

He has the opportunity to teach a conceptual unit which will be his first time teaching consecutive lessons that correlate to one another.  Although Mr. Slattery considers this as an opportunity, it is a requirement for his education program.  This allows him to engage in the process of design and planning for a weeklong unit. He has been in his placement classroom for a couple of weeks now and he has students’ names, classroom procedures, and expectations all down.  It was now time to discuss the unit of study that he would choose for his conceptual unit.

“Well we are going to start our unit over Night by Elie Wiesel in the beginning of October, would you like to do that?” said his cooperating teacher.

“I’ve actually never read that book before, but I’ve heard that it is a powerful book over the Holocaust” said Mr. Slattery.

“Well we’re going to spend much more than a week with it since we only have one class copy.  We’re going to have to read it in class and discuss as we go.  You could plan activities that build on their background knowledge.  Most of them have had a unit over the Holocaust in the eighth grade, so they will have a lot to bring to the table about the Holocaust but I think it would be a great opportunity for you to build background knowledge, introduce themes and other elements that will be brought up throughout the book, and also some other texts, such as poems and other mediums that will make the engagement of this text much more meaningful for these students.  Here, take home a copy and read the preface through chapter two and let me know if you would like to teach this” said his cooperating teacher. 

Only in her fourth year of teaching, his cooperating teacher is a veteran in the art of designing overarching concepts, essential questions, and especially classroom practices such as classroom and time management. She was definitely a tough act to follow, but Mr. Slattery knew that he had a great mentor that he could discuss questions or design concerns with.

“Thanks, I’ll do that!” Mr. Slattery said and departed from her classroom and made his way to his Co-Op.  On his drive across town, Mr. Slattery pondered about the kind of activities he could bring to make for a meaningful experience.  He was definitely a fan of kinesthetic activities such as “Mix Pair Share.”  He was also a fan of the impact that non-print texts make when correlated to the text itself.  He was definitely going to use some of those.  On his drive across town, Mr. Slattery felt enlightened because of the flood of ideas that he could incorporate into his classroom.  This was making him anxious and excited to teach his first unit.

Show time

The last couple of weeks, Mr. Slattery was not only planning his lesson, but working on additional assignments and obligations as well.  Still, he found the appropriate time to plan and design a weeklong lesson that introduce and assess background knowledge, creating a discussion and establishing purpose for reading this text.  Mr. Slattery could feel the power of this book and he hoped that his students could feel it too.  Maybe the activities that he designed would help some of those reluctant readers feel that same power.  Hopefully the activities didn’t make those active readers more reluctant.  He hoped that he wouldn’t completely ruin their education for a week.  These were all the insecurities that passed through Mr. Slattery’s head but he assured himself; he would prevail.  He had spent countless hours developing a PowerPoint presentation, searching for videos that would pair with introductory design and various writing activities.  The preparation is done.  Now it is time to practice his acquired classroom practices and apply them to real life.  It is show time.

Mr. Slattery had everything in order for his introductory lesson and waited for the 8 o’clock bell to ring.  It finally rang and a voice came over the intercom: “Good morning City High School, please stand for the pledge.” 

As he was saying the pledge of allegiance aloud, his mind raced:

“I pledge allegiance to the flag,”

Almost time, ah crap I forgot to turn on the projector.

“Of the United States of America,”

Remember to keep your body position open to all students.

“And to the republic, for which it stands,”

Is everyone here today? Okay looks like we’re missing a few.

“One nation under god,”

Remember, this isn’t a history lesson,

“Indivisible, with liberty and justice,”

but the history is relevant

“For all.”

For a literary discussion.

What perplexed Mr. Slattery was this ability to be saying one thing and thinking about the next thing.  One advice from his professors was “Think fast, talk slowly,” was finally being put to the test. 

  l“Good morning class, I hope you all had a great weekend.  For bell work today we are going to discuss our ‘lit term of the week’ and watch a brief video clip that will help you understand what the term means.  Remember that if you bring an example of the lit term, write it on a sticky note and put it on the board, you will get an extra credit point.  This may not seem like a whole lot but say, you didn’t do so hot on a quiz or an essay, the combined extra credit points from every week could boost your total score for this class” said Mr. Slattery as he introduced the “lit term of the week” which was the word archetype. 

Following the bell work activity, Mr. Slattery then went over the day’s agenda and moved on to the next activity, which was an introduction to the book that will be read in class.  “Remember class, take notes today in your thinking notes, I will give you directions as how to label each section as we are proceeding throughout today’s lesson,” said Mr. Slattery.  As he was introducing this book, he found himself emotionally empowered to deliver the same intense mood that is presented in the book.  He read passages from the preface that added to the author’s purpose for writing this book.  Throughout the introduction, he also asked questions informally assessing the background knowledge of the class. He then started discussing the upcoming activity, which was a KWL chart over the Holocaust. 

As he was giving instructions, he realized that much of what he discussed during the book’s introduction could be used in the KWL chart.  He couldn’t decide whether this was a good or bad thing, because he wanted to know what the students knew without any instruction, but he also thought that the book introduction was a good warm up.  This was something that he didn’t consider in developing this lesson. 

Either way, the KWL lesson went without any quarrels. He could have maybe done a better job of time management but he didn’t want to stop the activity in the middle of a good discussion.  Mr. Slattery then directed the students to engage with their thinking notes as they watched an interview between the author of Night and Oprah.  As they watched they were instructed to think about their concepts of thinking notes such as “questions,” “predicting,” “connection,” and etc.

Throughout the lesson, Mr. Slattery kept wondering, if and when we were going to get to the poetry discussion.  It would have to be pushed back a day, which devastated him.  His cooperating teacher told him “That’s the beauty of being a teacher, if you don’t get through an entire lesson, we can always come back to it tomorrow.  It’s better to overplan, than underplan.”  Still, this was the beginning of his conceptual unit and he will have an opportunity to come back to this activity. And he did. 

This conceptual unit was an important learning experience for Mr. Slattery.  On Friday, Mr. Slattery discussed his performance with his cooperating teacher.  Mr. Slattery felt confident that he was going to become a great teacher with the help of great role models like his cooperating teacher and university professors.

Training

I was searching for so long.

What was a college freshman to do?

With no clue of occupation, how will I do it?

Now a senior, and singing my song,

I made a choice, a life long decision;

In the class I will remain, I must model composition

And teach my students about precision.

But am I prepared for their questions?

“When are we going to need this in life?”

“Why do I need dissect stories

with my minds knife?”

“We’re in the twenty-first century,

I don’t need this stuff.”

Don’t worry child, I know it’s tough

These are the questions and quarrels

That plague our youth.

How can we bridge the gap

between the useless and relevance

To bring revelation and practicality

for an educational experience?

You see, it starts with us,

Future educators that aspire,

and believe our students bring

practical background knowledge.

I began as a spectator, now incorporated

In to an active participant, the title of Mr.

New school, new rules, Freshman class

How can I help you? Bet you never thought,

I’d be learning from you.

Through my education to be an educator,

I’ve been to many schools, studied theory

But the only way to learn is to

Experience in inquiry.

Progress in quicksand

I see student’s speed in strife.

I see them calm in calamity

But this where we get it all wrong.

Time is our enemy but it is also our friend.

It’s almost three, but you just blew your chance.

Just give it time, young one,

even when you think you can’t.

I see student’s across the spectrum

And I see the same thing

I see student’s prevail and careless

Regardless of what you think,

I will show you what the meaning is.