On Tueday, March 5, Dr. Mortimore decided to come visit my first period class. The day's lesson was pretty simple and was almost student led. However, I still had to be clear on the instructions and what I expected out of them. The essential question posed for that day was "How can we read poetry effectively". Essentially, this lesson was focused around a poetry slam where every student had to recite a poem that he/she wrote. They were to turn in their poetry portfolios that day as their final assessment and their poetry reading was to be included in that grade. Before we could jump in to any actual poetry we the students had to take a vocabulary quiz as well as do their daily warm up. As they took their vocabulary quiz I paced and monitored the class to make sure no one had any questions and to make sure that there was no cheating going on. Thinking about that makes me realize that I pace and monitor the class all of the time. Is this always a good thing? We have always been taught to move around the class and check on students; however, when do we know enough is enough? I feel as though some students are more tense when I am monitoring the classroom and tend to look up at me as though they feel they are doing something wrong. I think that is one thing that I need to figure out as I keep teaching. When is it okay to stop monitoring by walking around and when should I continue to walk around?
As the actual lesson started, I had the students get in a full circle with an opening. I wanted to create an environment that was laid back and formed a sense of community. Also, I figured, in most discussions, that the audience should all be facing the speaking. After they got in to the circle I went over what I expected out of the audience and out of the speaker. For example, I wanted them to refresh themselves with the proper public speaking techniques. Students raised their hands and brought up volume, gestures, staying on topic, and not covering your mouth with your paper. Getting the students to do this proved a significant purpose. I want them to remember these tools for public speaking because it will help them forever. I also wanted them to be successful. Reminding students of these tools again and again will only make them better and keep it their memory longer. I then went over what I expect out of audience members. They are expected to be respectful, be a good listener, snap instead of clap when appropriate, and to take the assignment seriously with maturity. Telling them what I expect of them at the beginning tends to make the classroom environment better and I feel as though I don't have to keep reminding them throughout the class. Therefore, it saves time and saves me energy which I need to desperately hold on to throughout the day. As I was coming up with this lesson I was figuring out in my head how I could make students be respectful and accountable for their actions. I thought I could take them out in the hallway or maybe make them read two poems instead of one. Then I realized that taking them out of the class might actually be a positive punishment for some. I also don't want them to view a poetry reading as a punishment by making them read two. As a result, I decided to take points of the person's grade who is being disrespectful even if they were not the ones speaking. I think this worked out pretty well for the most part. I don't think that I had to take points off of anyone during the day let alone the class Dr. Mortimore observed.
Moreover, I had to think of away to create more participation in class than just reading a poem. How could I expect twenty-five eighth graders to to be actively engaged if they were reading a poem for two minutes out of the whole class? That is when I decided to have them write comments to the people sitting to their left and right when they were presenting. It allowed students to practice writing, forced them to pay attention, and it allowed the student speaking to get another person's perspective then my own. To aid in this activity, I had sentence starters on the board for them to use because I only wanted them to write positive comments. I truly believe constructive criticism is necessary; however, for their first time public speaking for me I only wanted them to see the positives of the whole experience. Once again, I can't help but question if that was the right idea or not. Should students receive both the good and the bad or just the good at this stage in their education career? This is another question I will be tackling when I get to my next placement in the high school. The last thing I went over before they started was what I was looking for when they presented. I made a list on the board so that they could refer to it as they were speaking or beforehand. I want them to state their name, the title of their poem, the form it was, read the poem, and then explain why they wrote it and what poetic elements it contained. This was my way of assuring that they were up there for at least two minutes and that they had something to say instead of giving me blank stares (even though some did that anyway). I felt as though I made things perfectly clear with this lesson and that I left no room for uncertainty. Even though I thought this, there were still those who proved me wrong.
As the presentations occurred I realized that they were actually doing pretty well. All of the students went up without a hassle and most knew what I expected out of them. The first class, the one Dr. Mortimore saw, were gems. They did not misbehave at all and they all did a stellar job on their readings. As a teacher, I feel as though I was the one who messed up. I had my "pick a student" app do the job of picking who went up next to present. The issue that this caused is that it took me forever to find a specific student's rubric. If I knew in advance who was to go next, then I could have organized the rubrics in that order to save time and to keep students on track. I should have also had more encouraging things to say. I think I felt the pressure of time and wanted to make sure everyone went. I cannot simply put the blame on time because it was my fault for not telling them how good they did. I also found it very difficult to grade and watch them recite at the same time. Multitasking is getting better but it is still hard to do. I'm stuck between trying to be a good audience member and a teacher. Do I shuffle papers around to grade them or do I wait until they are done? I don't want to be rude but I want to make sure everything runs smoothly. This is sort of a never ending battle. Lastly, the students had to vote on the top two they think did the best job. I The winner got a candy bar the next day. I thought this added a little more fun and a competitive edge to the lesson. Everyone likes a good competition and incentives are always a nice touch!
Overall, I think the lesson went fairly well. I didn't do much in terms of content wise but I did demonstrate what my students knew through their presentations. I think I prepared well in advance and made everything clear. On the down side, however, I wish I would have thought about the actual engagement of the poetry reading. I should have considered things such as my role during their readings and how I was to be organized. Running a classroom is not just about preparing your students for the lesson but also yourself. I think that is the biggest lesson I learned that day and for that observation. I'm truly glad that Shannon came that day because it was a great way for her to see what my students have been doing. She sees what I am doing through my portfolio but not what my students are actually taking from my lessons that shes on paper. I hope she enjoyed their poetry readings because I felt that it was a good way to end the unit. I am proud of all of my students and I can say that I am finally proud of myself!
