Mrs. L., can you tell me.......

The nice thing about teaching is, that everyday you get the opportunity to make a new start. Yesterday wasn't fabulous, but today was new, so we started fresh. First thing, finish the damn testing!! Which, as of today, has been completed, and awaits being turned in at the administration building. I am not certain who is happier to be finished, the students or the teacher. Today, after these many weeks, I finally, actually, taught a lesson. It felt so good. I felt inspired and my students seemed very happy to see the beginning of the routine start anew. Now, with just four months to go until the end of the school year, there is much to accomplish! Now is a good time to reflect upon all of my goals, set new ones, and see what I can do better in the future. The lessons are many, the time short, and the pace is becoming recognizable. My after school students really carried me today. They come voluntarily to work out projects, learn and relearn concepts that continue to baffle them, and to know that they have a safe place to put forth their ideas and receive honest, yet positive reinforcement. I see the hard work that they do. Sometimes, they are disappointed in my response, since I generally throw the question back at them, albeit, in a slightly different phrasing, so that they can work out the answers themselves. It is in this way, that I believe, they will best retain the information, rather than recalling that their teacher always gave them the correct answer. Often, we laugh about it. But, in the end, they make themselves proud when they realize that they, not I, have figured out the solution.

What can we do better?

I am not sure what hit me today, but today wasn't the day to be disrespectful, disobedient, or obstinate. Today was a day for accomplishing tasks, finishing up testing, and gauging the levels of the students from where we left off, way back before snow days and "forever" testing. I have to know where my students stand and what I need to emphasize when I teach. I can feel the days getting shorter, and there is so much left to impart. My sixth graders had finished their testing, so today we began working again with the language arts program. The students had stories from their regular classroom teachers, dealing with inference, and answering questions related to the text. I decided that in the last 15 minutes to explore the three basic concepts of grammar, based upon the text. Could the students pick out the nouns, verbs and adjectives in a four line paragraph? By sixth grade, this should have been pretty easy, but the students were still stymied by their choices. "Does an adjective describe action?", one student asked. So we spent about ten minutes reviewing and working together to help to cement these basics. I am concerned that I see so much of this, not just with my students, but among the English speakers as well. In addition, why are these students handed calculators when they haven't mastered the four basic computations in math? Why are students still counting on fingers to add 7 + 5? What are we doing differently as teachers? What can we do better?

Can I change my name?

Some days you just want to change your name. You fear that if you hear a student call out your name one more time, you will scream! It is sort of like being on the phone and your children keep calling Mom! Mom! Mom! over and over, ignoring the fact that you are occupied and that their needs will not be immediately met. Then, when you do answer them, they say they just wanted to see if where you were. This was my day on Friday! The majority of the students had earned enough points to go on a reward trip, so I had the students who did not attend. I looked forward to giving these students some serious one on one attention. Slowly through the day, however, my "popular" classroom filled and that one on one time became impossible. The students, though, all wanted to have me to themselves, and repeatedly called out my name, over and over, even when I was working with someone else. By the end of the day, I wished them all a good weekend, and sent them back to their respective classrooms. Some days, you just want to change your name.

Administratively Speaking...

Being new to the teaching field, and having little experience on the other side of the desk, I had little understanding of how important the principal can be to the feel of the school. Not only is he a figure head and leader in a school, but the principal can actually set the tone of the school, from the students up to the teaching staff. As a parent, I certainly knew who the principals of my childrens' schools were, had met them on occasion, listened to their speeches at graduation. However, working with one was new to me. In my first job teaching, I found that the atmosphere really mirrored the temperament of the principal. The teachers were cliquey, the students unruly, the secretaries happiest when the principal was out of the building. As I observed more and more over time, I realized that this principal was a master of facade. Smiles never felt true, interactions with the students lacked warmth, and there didn't seem to be any real positive interaction with the teachers, including supporting them when they needed it most. In this new position, at this new school, the air is lighter, the teachers warmer, the students and principal smile at each other with genuine kindness. He is supportive of his staff, approachable, and caring. I can now see that as in any job, how the administrators work from the top, trickles down either positively or negatively. If the teachers feel supported, it translates into better working relationships, less catty talk, fewer gripes, more positive interaction, and better chances for success for the students.

Nature or Nurture (or both?)

I have heard that teachers are born, not made. If that is true, my birth was a long time in incubation, but it feels great to be born! Maybe there is some truth in that saying, for I dare say that not a day goes by when I do not think of one or more of my students in some way. It may involve them directly, or often, indirectly, as something catches my attention, and I wonder how I might incorporate it into a lesson. How can I a make it fun and interesting? How can I make it relevant? I want to be able to take my students to museums, and movies that have some quality, for nature walks and  theater days. I want so much to open new worlds to them, to share with them their insights and excitement, and to learn more about how and what they think. Picture how wonderful it is to see something for the first time, to remember the nuances because of its newness. As a teacher, I get to do that through the eyes of my students. It is what makes me smile, and observe through a new lens. The old becomes new again, the spark reignited through the journeys of the students. Many of my students remember war in their countries of origin. I am fortunate and have no such memories. Many come from broken homes. I am fortunate, and have not experienced that lifestyle. Many have less than everything that they need. I am fortunate, I have always had what I need and more. Many of my students have the biggest smiles. Many of my students have the biggest hearts. Many of my students would greatly appreciate the opportunity to experience what students in other schools take for granted. I want to open the  doors that spark imagination and learning without a book. There are so many avenues by which to learn. There are so many paths on which to teach. I am always on the lookout for the new road. Mine is a teachers' highway. 

What's in a Name

When I was first given a list of my students for the new year, my initial reaction was curiosity. There was only one  "American" style name on the list of 14. All of the others were totally unfamiliar in both print and sound. I couldn't tell just from looking which names belonged to boys and which to girls. This is the world of the ESL teacher. Not only couldn't I tell male from female, I often couldn't tell first name from last. I wondered how I was going to memorize all of these strange sounding names, and what types of children owned them. Yet, when those same students came together in the classroom, the names rolled off their tongues easily and familiarly, showing me that a name is a name, and I was the one with the problem. Well, I kind of knew that already. What I didn't know, was how familiar and comfortable those names would become, how quickly I would associate these new names with the students, and how normal those names are now, not how different they were. If you listen to the names of your new students, you can hear melody. What is common to one group of people seems strange to another. What of our "European" names? Aren't they guided by time and generation? When is the last time you envisioned a drop dead, gorgeous Ethyl? or a startlingly handsome Homer? Let's take the time to meet the person behind the name before we judge it.

Another Snow Day

Yesterday was a snow day. Today, I look outside, and see the most snow I have ever seen in my life, piled up as high as a small child. My mind goes immediately to "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" and the line that Lucy says to Charlie Brown: "Snow grows up! Charlie Brown, Snow grows up!". I picture the snow, not falling from the sky, but growing like grass, until it has reached this amazing new height, encasing everything in its whiteness. Then I think back a day, to the email I received from one of my students. This student, a girl of 12 years, has become my greatest tugger, so needy and yet so giving. She wrote; hi i  wich school was to day i miss you. How can that not tug at your heart?  I wonder what she is doing on these snow days. What is her family life like? What supports does she have? What does she think about all this snow? Does she have a "Charlie Brown" in her background that she relates to? When you teach students from so many other places on our planet, you are always wondering what background knowledge they bring with them. What events happened in their lives before America, and post America, that  play into the personality of the student you see? ESL teachers can't teach only the mind, we have to teach the whole child. This is how so much of our hearts are given away.Is there a better place to make a donation, than a child?

Snow Day

One of the joys of being a teacher, any type of teacher, is the snow day! While none of us loves shoveling mounds of snow, in this case, mounds and mounds and mounds of snow, the ability to relax and be lazy for a day is an invitation to cheer. Personally, being so new in my career, I don't necessarily need the relief that many veteran teachers desire, and while I am happy for them,I really  wish that I could have today to work with some of my students who need a little more of my attention. My perfect snow day would allow me to teach a few individual students for a longer period of time, giving them the chance to catch up that much sooner. Sick, isn't it? Not to worry. I am sure that as the years pile up, I too, will be among the grateful, snow day teachers, who smile, cup of hot cocoa in hand, feet up, and worry free.

This is a good day!

A student walks through your door, materials from another class in hand, and asks, "Mrs. L., will you help me with this?" The student wants your opinion, your experience, your editorial eye, your honesty, but more importantly, feels comfortable coming to you for help. This is a good day! They know that you will be fair, and that you won't try to change their work. You know that they care about the quality of their assignment, and that the skills you are teaching everyday are transferring to other classes; this student wants the spelling, grammar, syntax and composition to be the best that it can be. In turn, you do your best by them, and inside you smile, because you know how far they have progressed; and so, with pride, and even some amazement at the quality that has been brought forth, you savor the moment and remind yourself, This is a good day!

A Momentary Rant

Some days you teach, some days you mentor. Some days you hope to teach, ready to with lesson plans and manipulatives and worksheets and information that will aid your students, and tests get in the way. Not just one day of tests, but many days, delaying all learning until the students feel exhausted by the numerous questions with bubbles that require filling, the essays that require writing in response to open ended questions that the student cares little about, the reading that bores them only to prod them like cattle to answer more questions with little bubbles. Like sheep herded, they all follow along, one after the other, bubble fillers, all. I actually understand the need for assessment. However, currently, my students coming to me for such short periods of time, lose all of their lesson time in order to fulfill the testing quota of state tests, benchmarks and preparation for a series of tests that will be administered in the next month. Do you ever feel like there is just never enough time to accomplish the goals you set forth for yourself as a teacher? We set such high standards for ourselves, ready to take our kids (our students) to new heights, to show them the gifts they possess and their ability to use them. They, in turn, show us their desire to learn, their ability to share their lives, and the skills they have acquired. Teaching isn't all about the test, teaching to it or otherwise.... teaching is about the students and working with them to help them learn how to succeed.

A Tug At Your Heart

Once you become a teacher, your heart never truly belongs to only you. It will always be divided into many pieces that little by little, are given out to the students who need it the most. Even as these pieces are given up willingly, and with great care, they are never missed, because you get to see how that little piece of you becomes the larger part of the child that receives it. This is the part that makes the teacher happiest. In the ESL classroom, you are the person that makes the new student feel welcome and safe. You are their friend, confidant, guardian and teacher. You are the person to whom that student looks when things are going poorly, and the person that they want to share their accomplishments with. I have been so very fortunate to share bits of my heart with a few students that continue to make me smile, even when I no longer am teaching them. You never know which students will be the ones to get the next piece. Often, it is a surprise. One student that surprised me is a young woman who entered my classroom with an attitude of disdain and mistrust. She had been an ESL student for a few years and had tired of it. She was arrogant, rude and refused to participate in the classwork. I actually felt uncomfortable around her and she knew it. I knew that I had to overcome my discomfort, and resume my role as teacher so that we could begin anew. We talked. I listened. Listening was probably most important; in addition, I heard. I heard her say how frustrated she was and how badly she wanted to be able to exit ESL. We discussed the methods for exit, the goals that she would have to meet, and most importantly, how it wasn't my goal to keep her an ELL student but actually to help her achieve her goal! I told her that I would do everything that I could to help her exit, but that the real work would have to come from her. From that discussion, I believe that we leveled the playing field, and set goals that she felt were within her reach. She has since learned to trust that I am for her, and not against her. She has worked incredibly hard, coming to our classroom even during lunch to work on improving her writing skills. Where before she sulked, now she smiles, and even jokes a little with me. Her regular classroom teachers have commented on her new commitment to her schoolwork and the improvement in her attitude. This one student, whom I feared would challenge me in ways I wasn't sure I was prepared to handle,  has taken the first piece of my heart this school year. I give it to her with pleasure, and with the hope that she will indeed succeed in exiting from the program, and continue to use her incredible drive to succeed through all life has to offer. 

How Many Languages Do You Speak?

The first thing that people ask when they find out that you teach English as a Second Language is, how many languages do you speak? Thinking that I am a master of linguistics they are usually surprised to learn that I have only mastered one~ English. Meanwhile, I am teaching students from all over the world who have come for various reasons, to live in America. In one of the districts in which I gained experience, there are over 300 languages spoken, many of which, few of us has ever heard. Many are dialects. The most wonderful thing about teaching these students, is their desire to learn. Most of them have yet to be spoiled by, and arrogant about, the free education that America offers, the opportunities that come from getting a good education, and an appreciation for all that this country has to offer. Their families in many cases, are thrilled to have the opportunity to offer their children the chance at a better life and are appreciative of the teachers that work with their children. While hardships often accompany many of the immigrants, they are sincere and hard working. ELL students, (English Language Learners) come to school already behind the proverbial 8 ball. They are often unfamiliar with American customs, idioms and slang, may speak with an accent that makes them difficult to understand, and are often victims of bullying. In addition, they also usually are two years or so, below their actual grade level, but are enrolled at the grade level that is dictated by their ages. Therefore, the average ELL is working to learn a language and its nuances, adapt to a new environment, work at a level that is too high academically (due to the English involved, not their cognitive abilities) and fit in overall. Basically, the ELL is doing double the work of the average American student. How soon would YOU like to sign up? No? Didn't think so.