Blog 2

Prompt #2: In a profession as challenging as teaching, honest self-reflection is key. That means that we must regularly examine what has worked and what hasn't in the classroom…” This year, what has worked and what hasn’t in your classroom. What will you do differently?

This year is my first year. Many things that I have tried in the classroom have worked temporarily (e.g. using whiteboards for CFUs, a group point system for collaboration, a seating chart based on class performance, etc.) until the students find some loophole or method of "cheating the system" (i.e. copying answers, stealing the spotlight, not helping each other, etc.). Rather than being mad at my students, I'm actually quite impressed that they found the drawbacks to my ideas. Still, I'm having trouble with designing systems, procedures, and routines that meet my expectations, are relevant and appropriate for my students, and stay consistently functional despite the attempts of my little, innovative debuggers. I suppose this answers the second part of the first question. What has worked in my classroom? I would have to say...a positive attitude. There are days when I feel distressed about the mistakes I have made in class, the groans and frowns of high achievers and misbehaving students, and the constant denial of existence from my greetings in the hallway. But if I manage to grit my teeth and give out a genuine compliment despite all of that, I've been able to reach some students...and they've done better in class too. It's an uphill battle, though. I don't ever feel like I have enough time to reach all of my students this way, although I really want to eventually. I need a better way of managing my classroom and differentiating the instruction to all of my students. I've started this week with an ELMO in an attempt to start facing my students rather than turning my back to them while I write on the board. Unfortunately, the camera blocks my eyes when I use it, so we'll see how long that lasts. Also, I've planned for another day of re-investment, begun re-writing lesson plans to include essential questions, and started thinking about more culturally-relevant instruction. I also need to reinforce procedures and routines, improve my gradual release techniques, and possibly create an incentive program for my students. I met up with another TFA corps member this weekend for our TFA All-corps meeting and he said that I should really focus on doing two to three things well. It's a bit flustering to think about, since I have so much to do for everything. Still, I think for the sake of my sanity, he might be giving me some good advice.