My Future Classroom! Scary thought!

Working at the PLC and learning through the book discussions has given me many ideas about how I would like to run my own classroom one day. I learned what to do and what not to do. I want to be able to give fair opportunities without regard to economic situations at home and I want to be able to really pull in students to the beauty of reading. I want to show students "the light" so to speak that reading and literacy can provide if given the opportunity. I will do this through relating material to the students and bringing in the media, technology, and pop culture. With technology such a big influence already in schools, I can only imagine the growth it will see between now and when I am actually the head of a classroom. It saddens me to see that students are reading less and less when I find such joy and contentment in books. If in any way I can improve literacy levels and help students read more, I will do all that is in my power to do so. I think that the PLC and the book clubs have taught me the importance of reading as well as the importance of doing all within your power to help your students succeed. The book clubs related numerous cases of unfit teachers and failing students that I hope to be able to eliminate. They were very helpful at alerting me to current issues within the school system and problems that I may face alone one day. With the knowledge from my time at the PLC and from the discussions, I feel much more ready to step in front of others and teach. The variety of topics in the discussions helped me feel more at ease that whatever problem that arises, no matter its nature, I can handle and overcome.

Conclusion!

With work at the PLC done and the semester coming to a close, I reflect back on all the PLC experience has allowed me. First of all, it showed me a completely new approach to teaching. It blew my mind the first day to see the entire course on a website and the teacher minimally interacting with her students. It granted me experience working with a new technology that may one day find its way to my own personal classroom. The website course taught me various tutoring techniques as I worked with different students and explored different techniques to the learning. I tweaked and adjusted my methods to fit the individuals and the material and soon it became easier to work through their work with them. I also learned what it was like to work with students of completely different backgrounds from myself. The students I worked with live an entirely different life compared to mine and it was at first, hard to relate to them on a personal level. After a while however, I was welcomed into their world and accepted as an aid. Working with the different backgrounds I learned how to relate the work to their lives, how to make it relevant and important, and how to motivate each student separately. There is no one winning strategy to helping the students at the PLC because no two are alike. I learned to adapt and accommodate to certain needs and characteristics. The PLC also taught me the importance of literacy. It showed me that I was lucky to be given such an opening to the literary world and made me want to open the students to it also. Personally, I love to read and wanted the students to gain the same adoration in literacy instead of simply view it as a hassle or meaningless assignment. The PLC made me want to show others what reading can actually do for you and what its benefits are beyond the gradebook and diploma.

Relevance to Book 3

Our third book discussion was based on a book called, "Teaching with Poverty in Mind" by Eric Jensen. It described the adverse effects poverty has on the education of students and how schools can lessen the negative outcomes it creates. Jensen talked about the numerous ways that poverty effects the minds of young students and how they have the potential to succeed with or without poverty. Students can have a variety of results from their economic hardships and teachers need to addresses how they can be approached and helped. Poverty in students comes in 6 different forms and needs to be handled accordingly. There are 4 risk factors to take into consideration and various models to use to overcome the difficulties. The main conflict deals with how a teacher can help a impoverished student succeed without favoring or privileging that student as opposed to other students who do not necessarily need to the same help. Jensen asks the question: What can you do to decrease the negative effects poverty creates in your students in your classroom? He does not provide a final solution because each model varies in effectiveness and appropriateness depending on the situations present. He draws attention to the fact that it is unfair that students suffer because of their economic conditions at home and that as teachers, we need to do all that is in our power to help our students succeed.

At the PLC, poverty is a part of numerous students' lives. It is evident through not only their physical appearance but also in their approach to schooling. Many students go without notebooks and other materials simply because they cannot afford them. Many of the students I personally worked with would speak of paying bills for their parents, working double shifts, and dealing with very adult financial matters to better their own lives. Some of my students would have forced absences because of conflicting work schedules and lack of transportation to the school. The first girl I worked with mentioned how difficult it is to attend school simply because of the bus system, bus stamps, and the lack of bus stops near her house. She realized the necessity of money over English because her water was turned off and her cell phone bill was not paid. Each hardship with money seemed unfair to me coming from a very supportive family both financially and otherwise. I can't imagine what it must be like to have to pay bills FOR my mom instead of the other way around as I am accustomed to. The students at the PLC are doing the best they can with what they are given. They acknowledge both the importance of school and obtaining a high school diploma but also realize that realistically at school they are not making any money or bettering their own financial situation that surrounds them outside of the PLC walls. At very young ages, too young of ages, the students are forced to be adults and decide if school is a priority after all. If they cannot afford notebooks, what is a diploma going to do for them? If they are not able to get to the school that day, what good is going the next day? Being in poverty effects them both mentally and physically. I admire the students at the PLC experiencing economic hardships and still attending class. I desperately hope that in the end, each and every students I worked with will succeed and live the life they deserve.

Relevance to Book 2

Our second book discussion was on a book called, "Bring it to Class, Unpacking Pop Culture in Literacy Learning" by Margaret Hagood. This book dealt with the usage of pop culture in classrooms and the amount of usage students give technology and the media. The main claim was that students are increasingly using and relating to pop culture and technology, including their cell phones, computers, Ipods, and TV. A great deal of their day is spent on these items and less is spent on actual books. If teachers can harness the power of these items into their lessons, students are more apt to complete their work and actually take interest in the assignments. A variety of techniques can bring pop culture and electronics into the classroom benefitting the students including, movies, music, lyrics, internet assignments, and cyber working. By bringing in outside influences, the students will be drawn into the work more and more likely to complete the task. Lyrics and musical influences will allow students to not only see things in a written, literacy sense but allow them to bring their own personalities and likes into the picture. By allowing music and movies that relate to literary pieces, the students can get a break from the mundane reading and essays. The pop culture can serve as enforcers of lessons or as rewards as appropriate.

The use of pop culture and technology at the PLC is clearly evident. Not only is the entire course electronic but they are allowed to listen to music throughout the period. E2020 is the website that holds all of the lessons, assignments, quizzes, and literary pieces. The teacher is more of a backup than a necessity because even the lectures are on the computer screen. The student can plug into the website at the beginning of the class time and never leave the screen while completing a variety of courses and projects. The majority of students also listen to music while they work. They are allowed their own headphones or some may be given to them if they find music helps them focus or work better. I think in this aspect the music takes away from the learning going on because of the fact that the entire course is computerized. The fact that it IS all computerized I also think is less than beneficial because the students are tech savvy and find ways around assignments and grades. They can easily look up summaries to literary pieces instead of reading the actual piece and they can google definitions of words instead of figuring them out for themselves. I think the teachers should be more involved instead of the computer program. I do think some students come to the PLC simply for the ability to work solely on the internet. Due to the fact that it is an alternative school, the freedom on the web is appropriate but I think only to an extent. I think the use of pop culture in other high schools could be more beneficial because the students are more willing to branch out and try new things. The students at the PLC are looking to complete their work and move on as opposed to exploring creative outreaches and testing new ways of learning.

Relevance to Book 1

Our first book discussion was based on "Reading Don't Fix No Chevy's: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men" by Michael Smith. It dealt with the unfortunate fact that boys fail to read as much as girls both in and out of school. The prevalence of boys in upper-level English classes compared to girls is drastically different as well as their overall negative connotation towards reading. Girls tend to not only like to read more but acknowledge its overall importance in their lives. Boys view literacy as an unwelcome aspect of school and life in general because as they see it, there is no purpose behind most literary works. Boys favor the instruction manuel and how-to side of reading due to the actual tangible outcome such pieces provide whereas girls will read "for fun" disregarding a need for achievement afterwards.

This is undoubtedly seen at the PLC. My first time stepping into the classroom, I noticed the lack of gender differences in the English class I was placed in. I could count on one hand the number of boys in the room whereas the girls occupied most of the seats. I noticed this around the school itself also, waiting outside, wandering the halls, girls greatly outnumbered the boys. The girls in the class were easily motivated and willing to work whereas I could overhear other tutors and the teachers struggle to complete work with the boys. Although girls I worked with acknowledged the lack of purpose of the poetry or short story, they attempted it without hassle or fuss. The girls I worked with knew that by completing the seemingly unimportant tasks they would be one step closer to their overall goal of finishing the course and therefore graduating and finishing school. I worked with a boy named "Jesse" one day who would not read any of the pieces and would simply skip to the questions. He would answer wrong because he lacked the information from the piece and his grade showed this lack of understanding accordingly. As the semester continued, the number of boys dropped even lower while the girls continued to attend. At the end, only one boy remained in the class full of girls. The PLC students correctly showed Michael Smith's point regarding both boys approach to reading and learning and their drive to complete seemingly useless tasks. The boys who dropped out or simply stopped working did not see the underlying purpose to learning poetry or reading Romeo and Juliet and it was therefore more difficult for them to stay on task and struggle through the assignments.

4/18 Brings me back

Another sunny day but I was hopeful! I went on Monday this time instead of my usual Wednesday routine so I was actually kind of nervous that things would run as smoothly and I would be as accepted by the students. To my relief, a student I had previously tutored called my name the instant I walked in the room. I then noticed however, that there was a substitute teacher behind the desk for the first time this semester. I sat down next to the one of three students present today ready to begin working. However, "Kayla" asked if I would like to see her prom pictures first, which I agreed to without hesitation. I began thinking how great the PLC actually is.. they had Relay for Life, prom, talent shows.. they really did all they could to make it as much like a normal high school as possible. It was then she mentioned it was actually Cedar Shoals prom, however the school does offer many other opportunities for involvement. It was then I caught sight of the substitute. She looked beyond frantic, worried, clueless. She asked if this was how things are supposed to be run, what the kids are supposed to do, what does she do? I explained this is basically how it works here, they work if they want to and if they choose not to they don't. Music was playing, the kids were gossiping I can see why it would appear to be very out of control to an outsider. For once I felt at home at the PLC. I knew this is how they work, how the day is run. I am the one in control now. I am the one allowed to give directions and corrections. I can be the one they turn to.  I reassured the substitute everything in the room was fine and acceptable and returned to Kayla and her stories of boy troubles. She genuinely seems like a very intelligent girl and every time I have worked with her we have accomplished a great deal. She seems very knowledgable and able to figure most things out for herself. However, her progress in the course leaves much to be desired. I can't figure out how after so much time and so much working I have seen her do first hand without my persuasion she isn't on track yet. Today was an exception because of the circumstances without a teacher but normally she is very proactive and wanting to do as much as possible. Her grades are average but her progress is astonishingly low compared to what I have seen her complete in just one time period. Also, being there on a Monday for the first time I got to see her true dedication to school. She doesn't only come Wednesdays but most days of the week. In fact, on her report she showed me she had zero unexcused absences. I know without a doubt this is an uncommon reward for students at the PLC just from experiencing the one class period once a week. I was very happy to see that she is in fact very dedicated to her school work.
Being there on a Monday gave me a different outlook of the school as a whole. Coming to the same period week after week on the same day made it seem like that is also the only time the students experience what I do. However, being there today and sort of in charge of things made me realize the redundancy of the program. Kayla sits down day after day to the same screen, to the same exercises, the same order of things. It is no wonder that attendance has significantly dropped as the semester grew on. I don't even think I would be able to stand the fact that nothing ever changes. Each day, each week is the same routine, the same structure with only the people slightly varying as some pop in and out deciding if they really want to be in school.
Kayla is by far my favorite student I have worked with at the PLC. She is outgoing, fun, and doesn't seem bothered by any aspect of her life. She doesn't complain about money, her family, the work, she is very optimistic and light hearted. Some of the children are understandably more darkened by their situations in life but Kayla is enjoying her life to the fullest and I greatly admire that quality.

Also being on Monday, I got to see how one of the other tutors interacts with his student. I was alarmed and slightly offended that he sat behind her, a great distance, and was doodling or taking notes in his own notebook the entire time. He helped a few times only if she summoned him or directly asked for help but other than that he was very uninterested and preoccupied. He even talked about being at the PLC as a chore. He mentioned how he needs to stay for his "hours." I personally do not think the students want to be thought of that way. They don't need to think my time with them is forced, is required. I am there for them and that is the only way it should be. I was embarrassed FOR him. I think it was very rude to mention the school as sort of a punishment or forced environment. I want the students to be helped and know that I am there for them. They feel unappreciated enough of their life outside of the school walls and do not deserve it in here. I tried to play off his comment and urge the girls to keep working and not notice the underlying message behind what he said. I would love to keep going to the PLC regardless of whether it is required or not. I think giving back to the students in need is rewarding enough in itself. I don't need a grade or a certain number of hours to prove what I am doing is worthwhile.

4/6/11

I had the best day at the PLC yet! I was back with another student I had previously worked with. She was excited to see that she would be the one selected for my help today. We almost doubled her progress just in one period. She was able to skip most of the lectures and activities by passing the pre-tests before each section. Only certain teachers allow this feature to be used and I am still undecided on how I feel about it. It allows the student to skip vocabulary, lectures, and lessons if they answer the 10 questions on a passing level. I think they really miss out on some of the information but some of the activities do become redundant and unnecessary so it seems like a fair trade. My student today was very independent, optimistic, and cheerful. She has the most life and energy out of everyone I have worked with and it was very refreshing. I did not have to get her back on task or push her through the work; she wanted to complete it herself. We did suffer some technological problems with the internet and she lost one of her quizzes. The teacher was able to allow a retake with some confusion as to how to go about setting it up. Overall though, it was a minor detour. I learned that she has had a UGA tutor for every year of her school since middle school and she remembered most of them by name. We talked about dorm life and UGA events. She seemed genuinely interested in my life and what it was like. It also again surprised me how much the English teacher knows. This may sound harsh at first coming from me but simply seeing her sitting at her desk all day while the students teach themselves did not provide me with much of an insight on her abilities. Today, however since there were again few students present she worked one on one with many. Her knowledge was abundant and she indeed did know all there is to know about literature and English. She is very familiar with each of the pieces assigned in the lectures without having to look back and reference any. One thing that bothered me today was listening to the conversations in the room. The grammar and way of speaking disheartened me. The students are so knowledgeable about English and literature but when it comes to everyday language, their diction leaves much to be desired. They use slang to the utmost extent and do not realize how wrong their way of speaking actually is. I think at this age, it is almost impossible to fix because they have become accustomed to speaking in such a way. They have a hard time translating what they read and learn to their colloquial life. Even when reading out loud passages, the words are unconsciously switched to how they would use them in conversations. Words are skipped over and moved to accommodate how they talk to one another. I also noticed that the students seem to all know each other and befriend each other. There is no hostility, no judgement, no sense of competition. All of the students I have witnessed and automatically friends with one another. I admire that quality in them all. It shows they are not superficial or fall into cliche, typical high school fallacies. They treat each other as equals, even not knowing each other's stories as to their placement at the PLC. My tutee's energy today was infective and enlightening. She made me feel very appreciated and important. She even referred to me as her "life line". I hope that feeling will only continue to grow and occur when I myself am the one behind the desk. Her completion of quizzes made me feel proud and effective. It reminded me why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place. I want to help others, watch them grow, help them succeed. As cliche as it sounds, it warmed my heart to see her happiness at her success and progress. The feeling made me eager to begin my own teaching career.