Mentoring, Mentor Letter, UbD - Differentiated Instruction

One of the assignments in my 639 Mentoring and Leadership class was to write a letter to a mentor I've had in my life that has positively affected me. I selected my principal, Joyce because of her support and encouragement throughout my first two years of teaching. Because of her, I still have a job... who knows what the future will hold for me next year... although I have been dreaming middle school. :)

Anyhow, I wrote the letter... but found it really hard to release it to my cadre of OMET students. There is a part of me that faces difficulty sharing my feelings with others as in my brain, I feel a sense of weakness. I didn't, however, have any problem with handing the letter over to my mentor. She was grateful and expressed her gratitude with a few words-- me being a light, sunshine to the staff and coming with confidence and fresh ideas-- something of which I also pride myself with and hope that I will remain for the duration of my teaching professional years.

I have been reading some of the books on our agenda and have been getting a bit out of each one. The information in UbD and the Differentiated Instruction book is not necessarily new information to me (I would struggle a great deal without being an educator) being recently trained in a teaching program and seeing the "new wave" design of curriculum that our education system is morphing into, but I do pick up a few pieces of encouragement for what I do read: On page 22 of Integrating Differentiated Instruction-UbD, I loved this quote:

"Learning happens within students, not to them."

This quote remains an eye-opener of sorts for me, being so new to the profession and observing so many teachers I don't want to emulate in the way of teaching. There are others, however, who remain to be a light for me (unfortunately lesser in number).

One final story: A friend of mine, Jen, of whose personal blog is posted as a favorite on this blog site to your right... is a high school math department chair and teacher for an inner-city school just a couple miles from the ritzy, pretentious schools in our beach city area. She has been driven to want to quit multiple times within her 6 years of teaching and has quickly worked her way up the ladder. She has gone through 3 principals and 2 superintendents of her school district that is in utmost turmoil--in addition to the gang shootings and lock downs which are commonly in the news. It is also the school in which students from Lennox, a city with the highest murder rate per capita in So. California, attend. So, as you might guess, teaching and learning isn't much of a focus for these students. Surviving is. Jen has recently had it on her heart to investigate other options in areas of Redondo Beach because of the difficulty of teaching in her school... apparently attendance is a joke as kids simply don't come to school. She has been looking into RUHS - the high school in which I attended in a pretty nice area. By no means is it a Beverly Hills type of school, but it certainly sits in a nice part of town. She has good rapport with the principal and sat in during a math meeting and observed some math teachers to get a feel for the team and job she may be entering. As she left, she expressed to the principal that there was a lot of "untapped potential" within the staff and overall, her experience was "boring" -- which brings me to think that learning should always be fun. I really truly believe that there are ways to help students see the passion that YOU have in teaching what you love. IT IS CONTAGIOUS. Anyhow, I encouraged Jen that although she may feel like teaching there would be a difference, there is an obvious need for teachers to spice things up a bit. It requires someone to take a leap of faith.

Finally, my fiance was also in this conversation with Jen and he talked of his pretentious high school in Middletown Maryland of whose AP Calculus scores were through the roof... but having "smart" kids who can teach themselves does not necessarily mean that the teacher is the root cause of success. As he put it, "the teacher was boring, but with the textbook, we taught ourselves" -- and then test scores go up, no one complains and teaching is just the same as always, boring.

UbD - Understanding by Design - "teaching by mentoring it"

As I read through the first chapter in UbD, I came across a passage that reflects (sadly) the very teaching I find myself stuck in often. It's called "teaching by mentoring it." In this method, according to page 21, the teacher talks, checks off topics and moves on, irrespective of whether students understand or are confused.

I am guilty of this! So often I rely on the textbook creators (let us remember, they aren't teachers) to design my curriculum for me. If I do not use the textbook, I am in fear that I won't cover everything or align myself with other members of my grade level team.

Another reason I believe I "teach by mentoring it" is because I am not as familiar with the curriculum I am currently teaching than the other members of my grade level (although I'm not sure they are either at times!). This is my first year teaching 4th grade and I am still mastering the content with the students. That makes the UbD model a little harder, because I have no prior knowledge of teaching the information or what examples I can pull from previous year's lessons.

I'm enjoying the book... but just wish it was more user-friendly in size. It's such a textbook and not a book I can lug around in my purse.

I am a professional. Treat me that way.

Have you ever lost your appetite because something bugs you SO much?

I have now received my 2nd request to have a kid transitioned out of my class. The first one was for the curriculum being too difficult and the parent thinking their daughter needed to be retained (that one is now contained... but a new fire is on the rise)... the second one is that a parent now wants their child moved to another 4th grade classroom because I have already labeled them as a "bad kid."

First, the kid doesn't bring his work to school, doesn't do any homework, and was caught kicking another student ( I saw with my own eyes) and I simply gave him a detention. No big deal. Mistake... but I just talked to the kids involved, issued detentions and the clean slate is in effect.

I just got a nasty email from the dad... wants to get the principal involved... fine, whatever. The truth is, the principal is very supportive and I have not done anything wrong. I'm just so frustrated. Since when were teachers NOT professionals? Why don't people treat us like professionals? They woud never treat a doctor this way... why us?

...so angry.

Back to School Night

Alright, so B2S night was on Thursday. For those of you who are unaware of this lovely occasion, it is when an entire classroom is filled with my worst enemies, parents.

I am kidding... but at the same time, there were very few smiles within the crowd. Parents came in, sat down, listened to my shpeal (how on earth do you spell THAT word!), and then threw tomatoes at me. Okay, they weren't tomatoes, but complaints, yes.

I am not sure what they expect, but I am a teacher. I teach kids knowledge... and help them find their processes of learning. Instantly, upon my completion, a parent shoots her hand up and asks, "why does my daughter have 4 hours of homework every night?" ...then the crowd pulls in...

Simply put, I am not the homework police. I give ample amount of time in class to complete work. I will not falter in my responses to these parents. How do you say, Your kid is just too darn slow! That was the same sound I heard from about 5 parents. Again... slow kids.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have some REALLY bright kids. I have the smartest 4th grade class at my school! I absolutely love their inquisitive minds. But... here in lies the problem. If I teach to the higher-level students (a must), then the lower students/slower students fall behind and then the calls and emails pour in. If I teach at a lower level, the bar is set too low for the kids and no one develops. In addition, my GATE kids would probably walk out.

I've been fighting fires and writing emails ever since Thursday night. I might need to go back to fifth grade where parent involvement sucks but at least they let me teach without questioning me. I will not teach with low expectations. I will not.

Hard Work = More Responsibilities

To add to the chaos... I am still in BTSA (2nd year teaching), getting married in July 08, going through this crazy OMET program, oh, and teaching a new grade level this year...

My principal brought a couple more things to my attention:

I am now grade level rep and have only been teaching 4th grade for 3 weeks...
I am on the math planning/integration committee from 4th grade to be trained at the district...
I am on the Distinguished School Committee...

I am terribly excited about all of my roles, although in my voice, all that can be heard is tiredness. This might be the best year of my life to date... yet SO, SO busy.