Mr. Malixi’s Teaching Experience

This is not related to my teaching experience, except for the fact that it’s an assignment for one of my credentialing classes. The assignment was to go to the CIA World Factbook website, search your family’s home country (Philippines), and note 3 things you learned from the site. Here are my 3:

1. The median age is 22.3 years, compared to 36.7 in the United States and 43.8 in Japan

2. The Philippines’ land mass is roughly the size of Arizona

3. The country is strongly hit by 5-6 cyclonic storms per year and lightly affected by 15 cyclones

There was some pretty interesting and detailed stuff on this website. I am pretty familiar with the Philippines’ general history, but the numbers were helpful.

One of my favorite parts of the day is the time between 6^th and 7^th period. During this time I get to talk to the students and see how they are doing. I start by greeting the few students who always come early to class. After a minute or two I head outside and talk to a number of my students who like to hang outside the room until the bell rings. I don’t always get to talk to everyone because so many people get to class at the very last second. I would love to be able to just say hi to them and see what’s going on in their life. Regardless, I am thankful for being able to catch up with the students who show up relatively early (before the minute warning bell).

Even the simplest thing can help spark a conversation. I’ll tell one of them I like their shirt or ask if they did anything over the weekend. Hopefully they know that I really am interested in the things they have to say. I love getting to know my students on more than just a content-based level. I think it helps them get more comfortable with me and shows them that I’m invested in them, not only as students, but as people.

Building that rapport with students really helps out with classroom management. I can joke around more with students in class and they know that I am just being light-hearted. They are most receptive when I ask what’s wrong or if they have any questions. A lot of my students are not shy to ask for help and that’s a good sign of active learning. I think it stems from reaching out to them in the beginning of class, so that during class they feel comfortable reaching out to me.

I was inspired to greet students at the door by a friend of mine who is also a teacher. I know it’s not a revolutionary idea (like he invented the classroom greeting), but he’s mentioned how effective it was for him and that got me thinking to try it. He also meets them at the door when they leave to see what they felt about the lesson and check-in with them again. That is my next goal to work on, not only greeting students, but giving them a thoughtful goodbye. This way I am there for them from the very start to the very end.

Students love primary sources. Classroom management becomes so much easier when you integrate real photos and film into a lesson. My partner teacher likes to add short video clips into his PowerPoint lectures and I’m always amazed at how attentive students are when they come on. Sometimes the lectures may not be the most exhilarating. You can get the feeling you are losing the students in the middle of the period. But once they see that a clip is about to come on, they sit up. You can see it in their eyes that they are interested. They react to any little joke or comment. It’s just something about being able to witness a piece of real history that interests them (and me too!)

Last week I was able to integrate some common technology into the classroom and it helped get the student’s attention. We were teaching the students about inventions during the US Industrial period. A part of the lesson was on innovations in film and how some of the first films were done right here in the Bay Area. Well, that night I decided to go on YouTube to maybe find some of those works. It turns out there were a bunch of videos online.

The next day I showed my partner teacher and he let me integrate it into that days lesson. I showed the students a couple videos and they seemed to really like it. They were completely quiet when the video started and they seemed thoroughly entertained being able to actually see something that they learned about the other day. Somebody even made a comment about how they were surprised I used YouTube. Well of course I use YouTube! Sometimes I feel like they think 23 is a lot older than it really is . . .

But anyways, utilizing primary sources is a great way to engage students during a lesson. As a professor once told us “good curriculum takes care of 80% of classroom management” and primary sources help make good curriculum. It was also fun to use some new technology in the classroom. I let students know they could find more early films on YouTube, so hopefully some of them took the time to look.

Here are some still frames that were used to make the film. (Below is also the link to the YouTube video I showed them)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrRUDS1xbNs

For the past 3 weeks I have taken on the fulltime responsibility of teaching my partner teacher’s 7^th period class. My day generally consists of observing the teacher for two periods, taking rigorous notes on his lectures and approach, then repeating that lesson for his last class. Overall it has been a great experience. The students are pretty receptive to me and I enjoy being around them, but sometimes I get a strange feeling. My dilemma is if mimicking lessons is the best thing for me . . .

Mimicking is not that difficult for me. Though I was a little nervous during my first lesson, it has gotten much easier since then. One good thing is that my partner teacher says my nerves never show and I seem comfortable. Well, I am comfortable. I could easily get through this year mimicking lessons, but the structure just isn’t me. I find myself almost becoming a younger version of my partner teacher. Now don’t get me wrong, he is a great teacher and that style totally works for him, but it’s not ME. He has his own tendencies and I’ll catch myself using them. It gets me self-conscious, like I’m not really teaching or being myself because in some ways, I’m not.

One of the big issues is that I am not familiar with the material; I am learning the information during my observation periods and teaching it while it’s fresh in my head. My teacher has often commented that I can move away from his lessons and give suggestions whenever I feel comfortable. The problem is that I don’t know what he wants to cover. What’s the point of moving away from his curriculum when he is still writing the tests? It would just be a disservice to the students.

Sometimes I feel like I should just get through the year. It would be easy to put the mimicking on cruise control and just ride this year through. Other times I know I need to be more proactive, utilize my teacher more, make my own lessons, and create my own tests that reflect those lessons. It’s still early and mimicking helps me focus on other things like classroom management and getting to know the students. But I have to continually remind myself to not get too comfortable, not get trapped in unhealthy routine. This isn’t me, this isn’t my style, not the teacher I aspired to be. The mimicking can’t go on forever.

Classroom management is something that new teachers, like myself, often struggle with. Last year I was a substitute teacher and the hardest thing for me to do was settle students down to give instruction. Though this year has been better, there are times when I know I still need to improve.

One of the things that helps and hurts me is that I’m a young teacher. One of my favorite things to do is walk around while students are working and get some one-on-one time with students. Whether it’s helping them with their work, answering a question, or just checking up on students, I really enjoy giving students that individual time. I feel like students are pretty receptive to me because they know I’m young and can probably relate. Knowing I used to be a student at their high school lets them know that I’ve experienced a lot of what they go through now.

While one-on-one time is great, trying to get the whole class focused is difficult. Being young and not very authoritative, students don’t always give me the kind of respect they would a veteran teacher. When they see a young teacher in front of them, it seems like they start to tune out. Teachers have this small window of opportunity to speak before students start to drown you out and I think my window starts off much smaller than others.

Although I struggle with classroom management at times, I know that I never want to be a strict, mean, authoritative teacher. There are times when you need to be stern, but I don’t always want to be perceived that way. I definitely need to find a better balance between care and control, but I know I’d generally want to be on the caring side. The one thing I will be very unyielding on is establishing a zero-tolerance policy for discriminatory language. Students should not get away with saying things like the n-word or “that’s gay” in my class. If somebody slips up and says a bad word, I won’t make a huge scene. But being oppressive or discriminating others will not be tolerated, even if it’s unintentional. Language is powerful and I want to make sure my students know that.

Something that I think can help my classroom management when I start to teach regularly is establishing a routine. I plan to always have some kind of intro question or activity for students and always have a short assessment at the end of class. Hopefully by establishing a routine, students know what to expect and what is expected of them. This will help regulate behavior. As a professor once told my cohort, good curriculum takes care of 90% of classroom management.

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