This can't be the end....

I realize that I did a lot of focusing on how to make preparation for the CRCT more than just workbooks and review worksheets and I truly believe my students did better because of this. No one, including myself, wants to sit and do rote problems over and over again which is what many teachers tend to do. I see that we were really able to celebrate the amount of information we have learned and celebrate the success and hard work we have put into everything this year. I also was proud of myself for truly being a responsive teacher. I knew the types of activities my students enjoy doing and I combined them with review in order to make the most out of our time in class. I do wish that I had done a little more of this throughout the year but I am happy that I was able to make the review engaging and meaningful to them.

I feel as though this whole teaching thing is starting to make more sense to me. Looking back over the past month I was able to reflect on a month that was focused on reviewing and reflecting back over the entire year. I know things aren't perfect and that I still have a long way to go in order to be the “perfect” teacher, but at the same time I truly for the first time feel like connections are being made and light bulbs are not only coming on but staying on. I am excited to really take what I have learned over the past two years and put the pieces together in hopes of beginning with a more together, meaningful classroom next year. I am a little sad to think that some relationships are just now blooming but I have to remind myself that it is better late than never. Although this year has been full of struggles and challenges I am sad to know that it is almost over.   

Our Critical Pedagogy class has really helped me a lot this year. I have never been a huge fan of reflecting, although these past two years I have done more than ever before in my life, but that class has really challenged me to think about how I view things or approach situations and how my actions may be viewed by others. It has provided me an opportunity to take a step back, think about the world from my student’s point of view, and reflect on how they are viewing me and my intentions. I know that I have entered into this job with the best of intentions but do they truly know and believe that too? It is so easy to get bogged down with negative school cultures, endless to do lists, outside stress and behavior, and it is hard to step back and remind yourself of the big picture and what really matters. This last semester has really challenged me to do that, not only as a teacher emotionally but as a teacher in how I view academics. 

I have learned that there is no script or formula to being a perfect teacher but if you listen to your students and what they are telling you, or not telling you, you can usually find at the very least, a starting point. I can’t believe this year is almost over, and I can’t believe I will be a third year teacher next year, but what I can believe is that I have changed and grown immensely as a person, an educator, and a reflector over the past two years. Being a teacher is all about understanding and listening to your kids, they are the ones that matter, their voices should be heard and we as teachers have the ability to make that happen. 

I am definitely going to make sure I use the types of lessons I have used this past month throughout the entire year. I am also going to make sure that I celebrate my students and allow them to celebrate each other because that is extremely important in building a strong positive, classroom culture. I know that worksheets won’t work in my room because my students are too involved and deep in their learning and they deserve and need more than that. I want to prepare my students for the real-world, not just standardized tests.

Pathways Part 2

Reading Pathways to the Common Core always forces me to think about what I am currently doing in my classroom. Although there are several times where I question what I am doing this book allows me to realize I am really not that far off from what my students need in order to be challenged. I often times get frustrated when we have assignments that are focused around teaching reading or writing but what I quickly notice is that even though I am not technically the reading or writing teacher I too in a sense am teaching these same standards. On page 105 it states “…writing is expected to be woven into math, social studies, science, gym, and music, then presumably a good deal of the explanatory and informational writing will occur in science (lab reports), in math, (math journals reflecting on the students’ process)…” This goes to prove that what my students are writing for math and science is just as importance as what they are writing for reading and writing class and I should be holding them to the same expectations as any reading or writing teacher would for an assignment. When I read that “ one realizes this especially when seeing that the sample texts included in the appendix are meant to illustrate not the work that strong writers occasionally produce, but the work that all students should be expected to produce-and to produce regularly, with independence.” (page 107) I realized that I am just as responsible for their improvements as writers as my team teacher and that I need to make sure I am holding them to the same type of standards she is. Reading and writing are everywhere in the world, you must be a good reader and writer to be successful, even the engineers and scientists have to be good readers and writers. My students need to "write routinely" and make writing a habit (pg. 105). 

Since I am not technically a writing teacher, and even if I was I don't know this would change, but I think it is very confusing to a lot of teachers on how writing should be taught. Page 111 states “what is not clear is what, exactly, it means to teach writing.” I understand the writing process and what that entails but what does it mean to actually teach writing? I talk to my students about writing the scientific process and writing arguments to prove that your answer is correct, all forms of writing, but am I actually teaching them what it means to be a writer? I suppose I am but to be honest I am not totally sure what those lessons should look like. The idea that all grades should be continuously working on the same standards I think is wonderful. It provides the students with some consistency and we as teachers are able to watch them grow throughout the years. As a STEM teacher I really appreciate the fact that they are putting a greater emphasis on writing that is not just simply narrative. Page 127 states “ there is a push for logical reasoning, analysis of claims, and reliance on clear evidence and evaluation of sources throughout the grades.” This is the type of writing we do in my classroom and I can honestly say it is a type of writing that students do not often feel comfortable with and are typically fairly unfamiliar with. The idea of proving something through their writing or explaining why through their writing, especially in a math or science class, seems odd to them. This helps me understand why.  When I read on page 152 “The problem may be, then, not a writing problem, but that the students don’t know enough about what they are writing about. You can teach students to use writing to extend their learning.” This really made me think. Content area writing can be challenging, especially if the students don't have an understanding of the content they are supposed to be writing about. 

Collaboration is one of the best things you can do as a teacher to improve your practice. Although I can't sit here and say that I always do the best job of collaborating on things, I can sit here and say I know that it has HUGE benefits not only to our practice as teachers but to the success of our students. Pathways helped to prove just that.  Using other teachers at my school who are not only in my grade level but who teach different subjects and different grades would really help me understand where my students are coming from and where they need to go.  “Collect student work as exemplars, and study those within and across grades, so that you can monitor your student’s progress and scaffold them into writing higher-level texts." (page 122) The idea of doing this I think would change things drastically for us at my school. I don't feel as though teachers have a true understanding of what the expectations are at other grade levels or even what some of the expectations are throughout different disciplines within the same grade. I did a lot of reflecting on my grade level team and our practices seeing as how we are departmentalized when I read “Finally when working with informational writing, it is important to plan not only up and down the grades, but also across all the disciplines within a grade.” (page 159) To truly understand what my students need to be able to write about in math and science I need to have a true understanding of what the reading and writing standards are expecting them to do, the same goes for the reading and writing teachers when they are expecting the students to do informational writing in their rooms. Collaboration is key to success here and I am determined now to go back to my team and my school and make sure we improve in this area. The only way we can make sure we are all on the same page is to collaborate and “It will also be important for teachers across a grade level to be transparent about the progress their students do and do not make.” (page 123) This way all teachers can have a CLEAR understanding of where students are coming from and who is and who isn't meeting those expectations. We can then work together as a TEAM to help ALL students be the best they can be in ALL content areas!

March Madness

I feel like this has truly been march madness. So many different things have happened this month that as I look back and read my reflections I feel like I am constantly swaying from high to low. Although everything has ultimately worked out okay I suppose it has still been a whirlwind of events during a very stressful time of year. I am proud of my students, and myself for that matter, for really honing in on praising one another and keeping things positive in the classroom. This is not to say that we don’t need more work in this area but I realize that consistency is going to be key here and I am happy my students are making sure they hold me to that. I am also really happy that parent relationships are feeling more positive than negative and that we are working more as a team rather than thinking we are against each other. I know this is something that as everything I can continue to improve on but I am hopeful things are finally on the right track. I do realize that anger management has become an issue for some of my students more recently than before and although I am not totally sure of the cause I know it is an area I really need to focus on. Seeing as how I too personally had a very bad month I understand the mood swings and difficulty staying focused when you have so many other things going on in the back of your mind.

I feel as though I have tried to be very responsive to the types of things I am seeing. I have focused in on a few specific students who have drastically made a difference this past month and want to make sure that I don’t give up on them now. It is easy to focus on myself during this time with all of the stress of grad school, teaching, testing, etc. but I need to remember that my students are feeling the same pressure in the classroom when it comes to completing assignments, rushing through standards and making sure they are reviewing for what “we” have determined to be the five most important tests of their life (at least for now). By giving up my personal lunch time to spend extra time getting to know my students and being there to support them and by reaching out to parents who I know think I am out to get their child I feel as though I have been able to turn the negatives into positives at least to some extent. But again this has been march madness so who knows what is in store for the future.

I have really been trying to revisit the ideas found in Conscious Discipline this month especially with those specific students who I feel as though are seeking extra attention. Reminding myself of STAR (more for me personally than anything) and the idea of positive intent and choice has been on the forefront of my mind when it comes to relating to my students and thinking about my expectations and their reactions. I know that the end of the year is near and that everyone is stressed and on edge so I think it is more important now than ever to think back to all of the great lessons I have learned from the book.

I realize that teaching my students is about knowing my students and being able to celebrate with them all the time. Without celebrating their successes it is hard to push through their not so successful days (this goes for me as well as for them). I also realize that we need to work together as a team. I need to help them and they need to help me, we are in this together and we need to be there to support one another and to help each other when things get tough.

I want to continue to make sure I focus in on the positive things and the celebrations that my students deserve. I know that consistency is a weakness of mine so this is going to be harder than it sounds but I also know that it is important to do. I also know that the more positive I can stay, the more positive my students can stay and ultimately that will be a great example for those struggling with anger related to different topics. It has without a doubt been a month of madness but I know that April is going to be stronger because of it! 

Dialogue - what is it?

While reading chapter 3 and 4 I found myself becoming very reflective and slightly judgmental of myself and my teaching practices. On page 88 Freire states "Hence, dialogue cannot occur between those who want to name the world and those who do not wish this naming—between those who deny others the right to speak their word and those whose right to speak has been denied them." Talking, speaking, standing up for yourself, are all things that I admire about people. I am a big believer in using word of mouth to express how you are feeling, it is difficult to understand someone or something without speaking with them or at least listening to them. I have noticed that I by far always have the loudest class on the hallway - most classrooms are full of students sitting quietly in their seats working on independent work whereas my students are constantly communicating with one another. I sometimes struggle with this because I wonder if I am doing the right thing or just simply not in control of my class but then I realize that I am providing my students an opportunity to speak with one another. They are often times discussing articles they have read, math problems they are stumped on, or communicating their feelings to one another. They are discussing the world around them. All of these things I think are extremely important and who am I as a teacher to prohibit such things from occurring in my classroom where I want students to educate each other and communicate with each other?

One thing I have found myself doing lately in an attempt to feel as though I have some control in my classroom is trying to silence students when confusion comes up about a problem. With the CRCT quickly approaching and because of all of the snow days I am behind in my curriculum and stressing over trying to make sure I at least expose them to everything. This has caused us to go much fast through our standards than previously and has definitely caused me to have less time to go in depth with each standard. I realize that when students begin to say "I don't get it" my first reaction is to say ok sit and listen but as I read Freire I realize that maybe I should be the one listening to them. Freire states on page 90 "Only dialogue, which requires critical thinking, is also capable of generating critical thinking. Without dialogue there is no communication, and without communication there can be no true education. Education which is able to resolve the contradiction between teacher and student takes place in a situation in which both address their act of cognition to the object by which they are mediated." I try to focus on the why and when I ask students their answers I have them explain to me how they came up with that answer and how they know they are right. I hope that this helps to improve their critical thinking skills. One concern I have though is that critical thinking is not being taught across the board and therefor it makes it very challenging for our students to think critically about something because they are just so used to having the answers told to them (much like I have recently been doing during this stressful time.) I realize that in order for my students to educate themselves they must think critically and I must listen. I often times tell my students that I do not know everything and that they do, I feel as though this helps them realize that learning doesn't mean sitting there listening to everything the teacher tells you all day, it means taking ownership over your thoughts and problems and making something out of them.

As I think about cultural action and reflect on my community both within the school and within the classroom I think about Freire's quote on page 133 "When cultural action, as a totalized and totalizing process, approaches an entire community and not merely its leaders, the opposite process occurs. Either the former leaders grow along with everyone else, or they are replaced by new leaders who emerge as a result of the new social consciousness of the community." Growth in communities is a tricky thing, especially when people are trying to oppressor others or are even unknowingly being oppressors. When I think about my school and the education system I realize that there are a lot of things that are not passed down information wise from the top to those who are "at the bottom." I would like to think that it is not because they are trying to be oppressors but it does create for a tense, frustrated culture at the school. Teachers often times feel as though they are left out of the loop or being forced to do things without an understanding of why behind it. I realize that I need to be careful of this same type of thing in my classroom with my students as well. They need to understand the why and they need to be kept in the loop so things make sense to them and to keep the culture one that is open and positive among everyone.

Fabulous February

I realize as I look back over the past month I celebrated a lot of amazing things with my students. This month really gave us an opportunity to dive deep into standards and really work on projects and understanding rather than assessments and memorization. As I have read Pathways to the Common Core I realized that it is important to focus on the understanding and the implementation of standards rather than the simple memorization of what students need to do. I really feel like this month I was able to implement standards in my room through geometry projects, iPad presentations, creating musical instruments, and because of all of this, seeing my students take pride in their tests because they know that they know and UNDERSTAND this information. I word that I saw come up over and over again as I read back through my reflections is proud, I was truly proud of my students this month in their dedication, and admiration towards their work. I do however realize that control is something I need to work on. I need to be okay with things that are outside of my locus of control and realize and be okay with the idea that I can’t control everything. I can be proud of my students and provide them with opportunities to be proud of themselves but I can’t control others around the school.

I realize the importance of showing my students how proud I am of them, I realize the importance of explaining to my students the importance of our assignments are learning paths and I realize the importance of making sure they understand the meaning behind things and that they aren’t just memorizing things. I realize the importance of making sure my students are given opportunities to partake in lessons that are engaging, hands-on, active learning lessons where they can use the content around them, their backgrounds, and merge it with the new information being presented to the.

I have done a lot of thinking from our critical pedagogy class on what it means to be an oppressor in the classroom and what it means to not partake in the banking theory. I realize that I do not want to be a teacher that is constantly oppressing students but I want to be a teacher that allows them to use who they are to make connections with the standards. I want them to feel comfortable, safe, and proud in our classroom and in their work. I realize that there  is more than one way to arrive at answers and there is more than one way to decide if someone has an understanding of material, this is the type of classroom I have tried to implement this month.

I realize that teaching my students is about knowing my students. I feel like this is something I have always known but it is so easy to get caught up in what everyone else around the school is telling you, or asking you, or even making you do. It is easy to forget that your students are actually the ones that come first, they are the ones that matter, and they are the ones that every lesson, every idea, every day, should be revolving around. They are the reason I teach, they are the reason I am here so it only makes sense that whatever I do should revolve around what is best for them.

I want to continue to make sure I realize what I can and can’t control and to make sure I understand what this looks like inside the classroom. I want to ensure that the types of learning opportunities that I provide for my students are meaningful and exciting to them, not necessarily to me or administration or our grade level chair. I want to make sure that I continue to teach my students what it means to have control over themselves and the power that comes with that. I want to make sure my classroom is my student’s classroom and my lessons are my student’s lessons!

The path...

As I read through Pathways to the Common Core I realize just how simple yet complex everything really is. "The adoption of the Common Core suggests that America's image of what it means to be educated will change." (pg. 10) This is a very exciting yet terrifying idea if we really think about it. We talk about and criticize and debate our education system all the time, now we are debating what it actually means to be educated.

We say our focus is on our students and throughout my reading I continued to see evidence of this. One thing that really squared my thinking was "The CCSS emphasize that every student needs to be given access to this work. Students with IEPs still need to be taught to question an author's bias, to argue for a claim, to synthesize information across texts." (pg. 12) I often feel as though our students with IEPs are given this label of not having to do as much work or having to learn the same material as those students who do not have IEPs which is extremely bothersome to me. It is our job as teachers to make sure we are providing all of our students opportunities to be successful in the real world, not just those that are mainstream. "Its no longer okay to provide the vast majority of America's children with a fill-in-the-blank, answer-the-questions, read-the-paragraph curriculum that equips them to take their place on the assembly line." (pg. 9) I really appreciate this because I have heard so many teachers make excuses for students, or teach lessons that are simply easier for them to plan and manage, but where do our students and their future come into play? We aren't growing CEO's, investors, inventors, or even educators by simply asking for one worded, black and white answers. Pathways to the Common Core talks about the necessary steps we as teachers or educators need to take in order to ensure we are headed the right direction for our students. "The first thing we want to stress to anyone who is interested in standards-based reform is that the Common Core is, above all, a call for accelerating students' literacy development. The most important message centers on lifting he level of student achievement, not on course coverage and compliance." (pg. 14) The Common Core requires us to decompose standards and teach in a way that makes sense and is engaging to our students. It is not asking us to simply have them regurgitate different information. It is giving our students the ability to actually read a text, decompose the meaning behind it, teach it to someone else and have a conversation about the meaning and reason behind the literature. As a math and science teacher I sometimes, although am not proud of this, find myself wondering why I need to know all of the reading and ELA information now. However, after reading this book I realize that it is just as important for me as a science teacher to understand the Reading Common Core standards as it is for the Reading teacher to understand them. "Because reading will no longer be the domain solely of ELA teachers, as it has been in most schools, science and social studies teachers will need to participate in professional development on reading instruction." (pg 30) I know that I try to incorporate reading when possible throughout my science lessons, and I definitely do a better job of incorporating writing throughout my science lessons through hypothesis, observations, etc, but it is difficult to find a good balance between reading and experiments in a subject area where students can benefit so much from hands on learning yet class time is constantly being cut. I realized as I was reading this quote "You will also want to think about ways to infuse a lot more information reading into all of your content-area classes." (pg 93) that this is going to be the best way for me to help incorporate literature into my science or math block. giving my students an opportunity to read further and deeper into topics we have not had time to discuss in depth in class will be a great way for them to meet both standards. I need to remember that "...kids are reading non-fiction to figure out what to do with their lives." (pg. 91) and my job as their teacher is to help guide them and open opportunities for them to do so.

As I continue to think forward about the different things I want to incorporate within my teaching and my classroom I realize that although I put a lot of emphasis on learning and inquiry and hands-on projects, I feel as though my goal is still for them to "memorize" something for the test. When I read "This work is not about reading to be entertained. Nor is it about reading to memorize. It is about reading to think." (pg 101) I realized that this is what my mindset should be and this is the type of learning I need to be sure I am expressing to my students. My students need to understand, and I need to explain to them, that we are here to think.

One topic that seems to come up over and over again at my school is training or lack there of. As a new teacher I realize that I am entering into the Common Core probably at a good time because other than my personal education I have never known anything different. One problem that I personally have, and one that seems to be a problem for several colleagues, is the idea of training so we as teachers can ensure we are doing our very best for our students. The book discusses how now more than ever our education systems are low on money and having budget cuts however it also states that "The only expense is that of providing teachers with the professional development and the teaching resources they need to become knowledgeable in this area." (pg. 16) I realize that training takes money and time and that this is not a cheap affair however I personally believe that teachers would feel way more comfortable and would be much more likely to cooperate in certain criteria, if they felt as though they were informed and trained on what they should or shouldn't be doing. This goes into the whole idea of time as well. We as teachers have so many demands placed on us with such large classes that it often times for me feels like I am trying to cram everything in at once. Maybe this is where part of the idea of memorization comes into play that I mentioned earlier. I really was able to get a better sense for what a day should look like through the standards of the Common Core. Time is a necessity. We can't expect our students to obtain this information through osmosis overnight. "...when students are actually taught writing and given opportunities to write an hour a day within a writing workshop, their skills develop in a very visible fashion." (pg. 17) Reading this really helped to point me in the right direction of what is important and what can wait. When I read that "Students in the classrooms of more effective teachers read ten times as much as students in classrooms of less effective teachers." (pg. 51) I again realized where the importance in my classroom should reside even though I am a STEM teacher. As I think about what matters to me and what concerns me in my school I realize that I need to first focus on what I can control and what I need to change. "If you are going to take important steps to radically improve your students' experiences in information reading, you will probably need to start by owning the problems in our classroom and your school - and frankly, our hunch is the problems are serious." (pg 88) This book really has pointed me in the right direction for several unanswered questions.

I still have a few questions though that certain parts of the book really brought to life for me. One of my biggest questions or complaints I guess, is the expectation that some teacher somewhere will catch a student up. Or on the other hand, I don't have time to worry about this specific student this year so next year's teacher can catch him up. I am a firm believer in the idea that every teacher is responsible for doing their very best to teach their grade levels expectations to every student. I have a very hard time understanding why school systems are passing students onto the next grade when they aren't on grade level and haven't even been doing the work. In my opinion you are in a sense harming that child's education even more because you are now placing them somewhere that is way over their head and making it even more difficult for them to feel in control of things. "The CCSS design is also one of the strongest features of the standards because it sends a message loud an clear: Growth takes time; it can't be the job of a fourth-grade teacher, or the tenth-grade teacher, to be sure students reach the expectations for that grade level." (pg. 11) I completely agree that growth takes time and that we can't measure this overnight. I also completely agree that it takes time and practice for students to really grasp and understand a concept. However, I do think that each grade level teacher has a responsibility to teach and expose their students to those standards and that they should not assume that another teacher somewhere will fill in the gap for them. I found it interesting when I read "when you and your school make the decisions about a way to teach students, you are also thinking about a way to recruit and retain teachers." (pg 74) This makes sense to me but shouldn't we be concerned more about the students and how our teaching styles and decisions will ultimately be effecting them and their education and their future? "Kids don't just need good classrooms, they need good schools." (pg.73) and it is our job as educators to ensure we are helping each other form these good schools but how do we make this happen if we aren't all on the same page?

Pedagogy of the Oppressed - what comes next?

As I think back to my experience as an educator and what it means to be either the oppressed or the oppressor inside the education system, I realize that Freire has made me really reflect and think about what I actually witness on a daily basis. The idea of cultural schizophrenia is real. Who am I, or who do I want to be? Better yet, who do others think I am and why? I think these questions have really begun to surface a lot as I come near the end of my MAT and TFA commitment. Am I someone who wants to stay in the classroom, do I see myself now as a teacher who can separate herself from being an oppressor of the students? Am I being responsive? Am I allowing my students to be themselves and express themselves in a way that feels comfortable, or am I oppressing them and forcing them to be and act a way that is more comfortable for me? I think at times I still struggle and juggle the line of  who I am and who I want to be as well as how others may view me and my role either as a teacher or in society as a whole. 

I have definitely felt a pressure to assimilate myself to going back and forth between this life as a teacher and the life I knew before. I do feel as though my worlds are still separate enough that I have had to really think about what it means to assimilate myself. You have this pressure to assimilate to the world around you regardless if it makes sense to you or not. I think about this a lot in my classroom. I find myself often times being the oppressor to my students, assuming and thinking that they need to be like me and do things like me in order to be successful. I like to think it is because I want nothing but the best for them, but I need to realize that allowing them to be themselves, yet providing them with multiple opportunities, is ultimately going to lead them to success.  I forget that there is more than one path to success, and I need to allow my students to be themselves in order for them to feel successful.

In my classroom we often talk about what it means to stand up for yourself and make a difference. I try to empower my students to “do something about it” rather than just accepting it as fact. Freire states on page 69, “It is essential for the oppressed to realize that when they accept the struggle for humanization they also accept, from that moment, their total responsibility for the struggle. They must realize that they are fighting not merely for freedom from hunger, but for . . . freedom to create and to construct, to wonder and to venture.” This idea that if the oppressed allow themselves to be the oppressed, if we as teachers allow ourselves to make excuses as to why we can’t help our students or why our students aren’t performing where we think they should, we are allowing ourselves and our students to be oppressed by the system.

I believe that structure and order are important, especially in the classroom, but I also think that students need a place to discover who they are, where their dreams can take them, and what learning is in a way that makes sense to them. I am not the teacher that requires you to be crisscross applesauce in your seat, but I do require you to be engaged and involved in the lesson. I have, on more than one occasion, had administrators come in my room and yell at my students because they were either standing instead of sitting, or sitting on the floor, or sitting with legs in their chairs. Whatever the description, it was clearly the opposite of “standard and normal”. This situation always makes me question myself as a teacher as well as the administration. Who is in the right? Why is one way better than another, or is it?

I realize the importance of allowing our student to think and create on their own. It is amazing to me how students after several years of being “oppressed” simply assume that the teacher will just tell them the answer and completely give up any idea of thinking for themselves. These are not the strong, empowered, future CEO students we want to help empower in our classrooms. This has really been evident to me as we continue to work on our group projects. When I told my students they had an opportunity to stand up for anything they believed in and to make a difference they were ecstatic. Then when they realized they were actually going to do something about it and actually try to make a change, they froze. They didn't know what that meant other than to respond to a writing prompt. Several of them are still struggling with the idea of what to do, it is as though they are waiting for me to tell them to call the local animal shelter and as to come volunteer - they have been "oppressed" and assume and expect that they will be told exactly what to do, the idea of being creative and thinking for themselves has proven to be extremely challenging for them in this particular circumstance. I wonder though, if our students are feeling as though they are being oppressed by the constant direction they are being given in school. How do students feel when they are constantly told to be seated, do this, read that, study this? Are we as teachers giving them the opportunity to empower themselves, or are we as teacher simply oppressing them in hopes they will assimilate to be the types of students we expect? The idea behind my class project is to help my students realize their rights and to empower them to make a difference, I am so glad that I have chosen to work with them in this way because it is clear based on my observations that they need the opportunity to have the right and freedom to do something they want, something that matters to them, and not something that matters to someone else. 

Critical Inquiry Framework connections

When reading over the UN Rights of a Child I realized what kind of power a document like this could have for my students. I feel as though they are frequently told that they don’t have rights and that their rights are to simply follow directions. I can’t wait to share this document with my students as a part of our project to really inspire them and to help them feel empowered as individuals. Although I mentioned this to them as we were starting the project I definitely did not do it justice. I talk to my students all the time about how lucky they are that they have the right to come to school every day and learn but I don’t know that it has really resonated with them that this is actually a right of theirs, not just their teacher sprouting off crazy things.

I also really enjoyed reading Poverty, Peace and Action. As I read through it I realized that it resembled a lot of what I am trying to do for my project and it also made me realize that there are a lot of things I should be including to help invest my students and make this meaningful and more authentic for my students. Being a math and science teacher I sometimes forget the power of a book (yes I know this is horrible but we are just so focused on creating and experimenting). I am so excited to incorporate different literatures, both fiction and non-fiction into this project for my students. I think this will be a great opportunity to really bridge some different standards as well as mix things up a bit for them in class, which I think is always a good thing.  

Latinos for involvement in family education brought about several great points that also resonated with me as I think about my progress with my action research project. Several of my students are doing their projects based around specific things in our community and are focusing on things in the community that really matter to them. I actually have two groups of students who are focusing on helping other students with medical issues in the community and how they can help raise awareness for them and help fund research for their illnesses. My students realized the importance of being involved in the community and want to be involved in their community.

It’s Not Easy Being Flat reminds me of the importance of really explaining and helping my students digest what their rights are and why it is important to value and understand their rights. Although I briefly talked about the UN Rights of a Child before we started our projects I realize that I did not do them justice and that it is really important for my students to sit down and think about them and talk about them and discuss the meaning behind them. I want my students to use these rights as a way of empowerment, something that means something to them, something they can be proud of!

And we're off!

It is hard to believe we are a month into our second semester of our second year - time flies!

I really feel as though I focused a lot this month on critical inquiry learning and enthusiasm about showing what my students have learned. I was excited to see the accomplishments they have made and I was excited to see them proud of themselves for the accomplishments they have made. I really want to continue on this path moving forward because I think it sets the right kind of tone and it embraces the type of learning I want to occur in my classroom. The inquisitive, excited, hands on ah ha moments that really make learning fun for my students. I also realized that there are some attitudes that need to be addressed in the class in order  for me to keep my sanity and for my students to feel as though they have a voice in the room. I want to make sure that I am giving them this opportunity which is why I am excited about my note drop box where students will have the opportunity to write what’s on their mind – whatever it is – and then hopefully we can address it as a whole. I am also looking forward to continuing to build connections with my students so that I can understand them individually better.

I think that I am going to continue to keep doing the type of teaching/learning that has been working well and I also think that I am trying to put a few ideas in place that will really help my students feel as though they are being heard and they do have a voice and that I do care about them individually. When I have lessons that are engaging and matter to the students it is amazing the type of day we as a class can have. I realize that the more I work with them and the more we build relationships as a class the better things ultimately will be. 

As much as I hate to admit it I have done a lot of thinking after reading Friere. I also try to constantly think back to our math and science courses about the ways to teach hands on learning in math and science and what that looks like and means for our students. I also feel as though I am slowly starting to put everything together and am personally starting to have that ah ha moment where I realize everything I have been trying to do and what is actually happening in my classroom. That by no means I am doing things perfectly even a fraction of the time but I at least am starting to feel like I may belong here.

I think it really all comes down to knowing and understanding your students and what works for them and what doesn’t. It is partly a trial and error  game that we have to play but I know and see the importance of it which is why I don’t want to give up. I just need to continue getting to know my students and what matters to them. Once I know what matters to them I can make sure I incorporate that into the lessons and my management and ultimately that is my end goal. I am anxious to see how our last few months together go.