All Eyes On Me

1, 2, 3… So many people are observing me. As a new teacher, my supervisor needs to formally observe me 4 times. That doesn’t count any informal observations. As a NYCT fellow and masters candidate, my consultant/professor/advisor also needs to observe me (twice a month). And, lastly, my principal needs to observe me at least once. I feel like a window display.

And then in a few weeks we have the Quality Review people coming. I agree with Ms. M that these things should be a surprise – observations included – to keep people on their toes and not simply preparing a scripted performance. When I was a TV producer, you weren’t “observed” in the way teachers are, but you were constantly in the line of fire — at any minute, you would need to track down key information about a trial, get a high-profile attorney on the phone, or be aware of any upcoming hearings that might be newsworthy. You and your work were always on display, and if you messed up, millions of viewers would see your mistakes. Maybe your name wouldn’t be attached to it for the audience, (or sometimes it is, as with Dan Rather), but the people who held the ax over your head certainly knew who was responsible. Why is it any different for teachers?

NYSESLAT – not as Bad as I thought

This week we start prepping the kids for NYSESLAT twice a week. It’s not fair for kids new to the country to be forced to take this – in fact it can be quite traumatizing (I have one little girl who had been doing great in class but is on the verge of tears during NYSESLAT prep). However, I feel I am finally being allowed to teach kids the skills, strategies and such that they need in an open explicit way without having to find ways to justify its purpose in TC’s approach. I love it.

They’re learning adjectives, adverbs (4th grade), proper sentence structure and vocab in 1st and 2nd grade, and how to write about things like who’s in a picture, what are they doing and why, or what will happen next. Test prep doesn’t have to suck the creativity and life out of a kid or a lesson — as long as you don’t let it.

Finally I feel like an ESL teacher and not a reading teacher with visuals.

I see now, more than before, how to get the kids talking in a conscious way – thinking about the language prompt and grammar. I see kids who had been the least verbal, speaking in complete sentences.

Up to now, I was spending the bulk of my time trying to find books that were not only appropriate for my kids, but interesting and challenging and would allow me to teach them the skills they need. How frustrating do you think it is for a 6-year-old who can read newspapers in Spanish to have to read books with one word on each page in English and be given a teaching point to look for character traits???

This is not a curriculum that relies on a kid’s literacy or comprehension of their first language, or even seeks to develop it. In fact, it makes it quite difficult to do exactly that.

On My Own…

Today was a pretty good day. My 2nd grade teacher was out, so I had the kids all to myself and didn’t have to put up with her anti-kid insults. The kids, too, seemed really engaged and interested. Maybe it was just my sleep-deprived perception, but I had expected them to misbehave the whole time and they didn’t. At all. And not once did they ask me, “What are we doing?”, with confused looks in their eyes.

I do recognize that I need to develop a more systematic approach to classroom management. Most push-ins just offer little prizes for good behavior. I don’t mind giving out stickers and such, but I’d prefer something a little more thought-out, especially if it means avoiding carrying around even more crap.

Immunity

I’ve been sick a lot lately; bad enough to need to take days off. I have bad asthma, but that hasn’t even been my problem — I’ve had the flu (and I had a shot), and severe head/chest colds. I hope I’m not seen as a disciplinary problem or something as a result of all the time off. That makes me nervous. And it’s not like I’m not trying to build my defenses. I eat healthy, exercise and take my vitamins. I wonder if my body will ever adjust to kiddie germs.

A Professional Professional

One thing I love about teaching are the professional development workshops. I know there are shitty, irrelevant ones out there, but so far I’ve been to some really helpful ones with lots of information. Only problem is that my head has just been swimming lately. I’ve been to so many and each had a slightly different target audience (like ESL teacher vs. general ed teacher) that it’s been hard to process the often conflicting information.