Journal Entry # 2: How can I balance planning, grading, researching, etc., with the demands of daily life?

As my student teaching experience marches on, I have come to discover a very unexpected speed bump. Namely, I would have never considered the vast amount of responsibilities outside of the actual teaching itself a problem before I began my experience. Most of what pre-service teachers learn while training to become teachers involves the specifics of creating, structuring, planning, and carrying out individual lessons and units. While, on the surface, this appears to be the bulk of what teaching really is, I would posit that this is only about ten to twenty percent of the career of teaching. The amount of time I spend each day grading assignments, meeting with students for extra help, chasing certain students down to ensure that they make up the work that they missed, and organizing myself for various responsibilities in the future both inside and outside the school is truly astounding. Unfortunately for young teachers like myself, things of this nature aren’t typically “covered” in educational classes.

            While the first few weeks were a struggle in terms of trying to balance all of the responsibilities of a teacher (everything from running to the work room to make copies to consoling a student who is upset about a grade and everything in between), I have begun to finally get the knack of it all. A helpful practice I learned early on was trying to get as much accomplished as possible during my prep periods. Grading assignments, beginning lesson planning, sending important emails, and any other time consuming activity can usually be accomplished during the vital periods in between my classes. I have also continued the habit of setting aside a few hours every evening at home to work on what needs to be accomplished. Initially, one may assume that after one leaves the school for the day, one’s job is over. This is simply not the case. I have just as much “homework” now as I had while I was taking a full time college class load. Buckling down and remaining on top of what needs to be accomplished is simply the only way to tackle all of the extra stuff a teacher needs to accomplish, especially young teachers who are starting most of their lesson planning, unit planning, and material collecting from scratch.

            In addition to student teaching, I have also chosen to pursue an honors thesis with the Hofstra University Honors College. This thesis began last semester and has carried over in to this semester. The extra work can be daunting to say the least, but I feel that it is a rewarding experience that will add to my feeling of accomplishment after my graduation. Even on the most stressful of days, I have learned that squeezing each day for every second I can get is truly the only way to stay on top of my work. Time saving strategies like cutting back on some leisure time (which was almost non-existent to begin with) and utilizing every second during the school day can be demanding, but undoubtedly worth it.

Garrett's Picasso Head!

My Picasso head! I did not share this with my students, but I think that it's a pretty good depiction of me. It came out looking a bit on the sad side (notice the frown) but realistically, I am a happy person!

Conversation With My Cooperating Teacher Regarding Classroom Management and Organization

Question #1: If you had to sum your classroom management style up in a short sentence, what would you say? How would you summarize what you do in terms of classroom management? What's your "style"?

I usually work on one, basic premise: everyone respects everyone including his or herself. This is my only real, concrete rule in class. I don’t agree with the idea that teachers should establish multiple lists of rules. Too many rules will confuse a group of students, especially younger students. There is no real need to get too specific and I’ve never had to. If a student is respecting his or herself and respecting others, including the teacher, then the class can run smoothly.

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Question #2: What are some mistakes you've made in the past in terms of classroom management and/or classroom organization? How did you both learn from these mistakes and then go about fixing them?

The biggest problem that I have and continue to have with classroom organization is collecting too many things for grading. Assessment is important but unfortunately, I used to make the mistake of trying to grade ALL of the work that the students complete. This is not really necessary. I’m still constantly trying to remind myself that it is not necessary to grade everything, just the most meaningful assignments. Too many things to grade can lead to an unorganized classroom and this can be counterproductive.

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Question #3: Does your classroom management style vary depending upon the class you have or do you have a universal, "one size fits all" approach?

My classroom management style absolutely depends upon the class I have. No class is going to be exactly the same and you have to adjust to the class. I’ve learned that you can never give anything back. What I means is, you have to start out the year stern and conservative. Then, over time and after learning about the class, you can start to give a little more leniency. Once you’ve given too much away however, it’s all over. You can give a little more to classes that can handle it and you can tell which classes you need to be stricter with fairly quickly.

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Question #4: What is the biggest issue you regularly encounter in terms of keeping your classroom organized and functioning both smoothly and properly? How do you go about correcting this issue?

Keeping track of student progress can often be a big organizational problem if not handled properly. However, like I said before, you have to find a balance between keeping justified and effective feedback/assessment from students and becoming overwhelmed by too many assessments and feedback. I’ve gotten much better at this over time as a teacher.

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Question #5: If you could provide one piece of advice to a new teacher regarding classroom management, classroom organization, or both, what would it be? What is something you wish you knew when you first started teaching?

When I first started teaching, I wish I realized that all kids couldn’t necessarily achieve the same things. Some kids can work and work all year long and still not get it exactly while others can get it very easily. Success really varies from student to student. Also, I didn’t realize initially just how much baggage kids can bring with them from home in to the classroom. At first, I saw some kids as simply “behavioral issues.” Later on however, I learned a lot about the home lives of some of these kids and I finally came to understand why they behaved the way they did. Honestly, it makes sense.

Another really difficult thing for me to get was that you can’t solve all of the worlds problems. As a teacher, I can only do so much for my students. When I first started teaching, I used to take all of my students’ problems home with me every night. I learned after some time that I simply can’t do that. There has to be a line. One last thing: No arguing with students ever! Even if you win the argument, you still lose because you have lost that student forever. In the same way, never embarrass a student in class. While embarrassing a student may help with classroom management in the short term, that student will never want anything to do with you from that point on. Once again, I think it all comes back to the “respecting” rule which I talked about earlier. We all need to be respectful, both teachers and students.

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Question #6: What is one example/story you have of either a classroom management or organizational nightmare and then how did you manage to get through it? (Real stories are appreciated!)

I have to say that I’ve been extremely fortunate because I really can’t think of any terrible or standout management issues from the past. It’s just a problem I can’t remember encountering all that much. I do remember however, a time during my first year of teaching where I became overwhelmed with student work. I had an enormous pile of ungraded, unchecked student work on my desk and this was during the time when I still had trouble with trying to grade everything. Finally, I became so overwhelmed that, one day, I went out in to the hallway, I made sure no one was around, and then I threw out all of the work. I simply couldn’t get to it all. It was too much!

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Final thoughts:

-Remember, only send a kid to the principle’s office as an absolute last resort. A student will never take you seriously again if you can’t handle the problems in your class on your own. Things will only get worse.

-Also, remember that both respect and being genuine all the time are keys to really being a great teacher. Don’t try to fake sincerity. Kids can tell immediately if you’re full of it.

-One last thing: never “fake it.” If you say that you’re going to do something, you must follow through with it. For example, if you tell a student that he or she will get a zero if his or her homework is not in class tomorrow, then you have to give that kid a zero. There are no exceptions. It’s really difficult to always stick to your guns but you have to if you want to be taken seriously.

English Literature and Writing Buzz Words Wordle

The following image is a wordle, which is made up completely of English Language Arts "buzz words" that students will often come in contact with throughout their experiences in English Language Arts classroms. I did not use this in my own classroom, but it is definitely an interesting and potentially valuable word web.

Journal Entry #1:Why am I teaching what I am teaching? To what extent did my own school experiences reflect the larger purpose of teaching English?

I have been asked many times throughout my preservice teaching career why I decided to teach English language arts. "Why not one of the sciences?" others would often inquire. "That's the stuff that's really important." My answer as to why I decided to teach what I am now teaching is simple and probably very similar to the answer most other teachers will give when asked the same question regarding their reasoning behind choosing to teach their subject area: this is the topic that has left the longest impact on me. English language arts and literature have been friends of mine since my own middle school experience and as I have grown, developed, and learned, this subject area has never left me feeling disappointed or uninterested. Doing well in the subject area as a student is not the only reason that led to my fascination with the subject and my eventual decision to pursue the subject area further (I performed exceptionally well in other subject areas as well like history, biology, and chemistry). My true reason for deciding to teach English is far more deeply-rooted in my past. I have been an avid reader since I was ten years old. The notion of being able to take a personal passion of mine (reading and literature) and then having the chance to both expand upon it and share it with others was incredibly intriguing. Mark Twain once stated (and oh how fitting it is for an aspiring English teacher/literature fanatic to live by the words of a beloved writer) that "the secret to success in life is to make your vocation your vacation." Teaching English has allowed me to do just that. I could have chosen to teach another subject area, but had I decided to do so, I know that I could never truly be as content as I would be teaching (and learning) about a subject area I love dearly. 

From the time I was in high school, and later, in college, English literature and language arts opened up doors for me that no other content area would have been able to do, save perhaps, philosophy, which, if one delves more deeply in to the subject area, one would find that literature, philosophy, and the humanities are undeniably, intrinsically linked. I, unlike many of my fellow students, looked forward to reading assignments, written reflections, essay tasks, and close readings. Questions I would have never been able to even consider prior to my study of the subject area began injecting themselves in to every single aspect of my life. In simplified terms, English allowed me to not only see the world through a new perspective, but it also allowed me to consider multiple perspectives from both the past and the present, compare and contrast these perspectives, and then evaluate the bearing these perspectives have on my own life, society, and existence itself. If my reasoning behind choosing to teach this subject area is not yet clear, consider the following statement from famous American writer, lecturer, and philosopher Joseph Campbell: "Follow your bliss." I am certainly doing that.