Are You Ready to Rumble?

During our summer training, Ben told us to never get in between girls fighting. My school has been having problems with lesbian girls fighting and was unlucky enough to experience it first hand in my classroom last week. I wish I had listened to Ben.

It was a pretty typical class. Students were working on their assignments and I was walking around the room helping students who had questions on what to do. It was a great surprise to me when Janet said, “Mr. Tran you better move your student away from me before she gets hurt!” The student she was talking about was Tina who sat in front of her and with whom I thought she was good friends with. I saw Janet was angry and very serious so I walk over and asked Tina to move to another seat. Before she could move, Jamie got up angrily, ready to start punching. I immediately got in between them and demanded Jamie to sit but she lunged at Tina again…this time with me in front of her, holding her back. I start push her towards the door to get her out of the room, telling her go to the office immediately. I almost get there before, not unlike an NFL defensive tackle, she does a swim move on me to get around me to attack Tina. I manage to get in front of her again, almost wrestling with her this time to try to get her out the room. She flipped two desks and violently swung at Tina over me. Janet was a big girl. She has about four inches and twenty pounds on me so this was quite a task for me to hold her back. The only reason I was doing this because she looked liked she was about to do a lot of damage to the much smaller Tina. I did not want Tina to get hurt. However as I was trying to push her out I thought to myself, “how do I get help?” The other students are out of the seats to avoid and watch this ugly fight. There’s chaos. I’m yelling “somebody get Coach Hanson!” I finally manage to get both girls out of the room and things finally die down. The security guard comes and both are taken away.

This was the first fight that broke out in my classroom and I pray it is the last. Next time I’m strictly sticking to Ben’s advice and not getting in between any fights. Just find that buzzer and call for help. As one of the other teachers said, “They don’t pay us enough to put ourselves in danger like that.” Both students got suspensions but for not nearly as long they deserve. Janet is suspended for five days. Tina is suspended for three.

A Student Deals with Adversity

I found out a student of mine that I will refer to as Bob was kidnapped on Wednesday. He came back to class on Friday with a teacher and we talked in the hallway for a bit during class. He told me that Bob had been getting a lot of questions from other students about what happened to him to him.

I read the newspaper account of what happened to Bob. It pretty much said he was abducted while waiting for his bus. The man touched him and tried to make sexual advances but Bob had escaped without any harm. So Bob got in front of class and told his story. He told his account of what happened and it pretty much matched up with what I read in the paper. But then he said he was raped. When he said that, my jaw dropped and I almost cried. I wiped my eyes real quickly and maintained my composure. He said he didn’t tell the newspaper everything. He had been raped by this man.

He was waiting for his bus in the morning when a man approached him in a car. He knew the kid’s name, his age, his grade level, and that he took part in a particular academic program. He offered Bob a ride, which he refused. The man pulled him into his car through the window and drove away with him. He said the man tried to kill him but he escaped and got to a gas station where he called for help.

He said he wanted to get in front of class to warn his classmates to be aware of their surroundings and try to not be by themselves. This kid was poised, composed and extremely articulate. He had just been raped two days ago. I admired his attitude. He was dealing with this way better than I even was.

I’ve had several classes with Bob since it’s happened to him. It’s almost as though nothing has happened. For days after he made his announcement in front of my class, I was just thinking about how sick the man was who did this too him but also how well he has dealt with what has happened to him.

Who’s who?

I was having a tough week of school. The school year was going just too long and I was on my prep period, feeling tired and just waiting for the day to end. I went to the teachers’ lounge to check my mailbox and I found a Who’s Who envelope. A student had nominated me to be recognized as a Who’s Who teacher. It said one of my students chose one teacher from his academic career that most positively influenced him (or something to that regard). And this student chose me! It made my day.

It picked me up to know at least one of my students was getting something good from my classes and enjoying it. Even with all the first-year mistakes I’ve made…even with all the issues with classroom management, a student felt I most positively influenced his academic career. The next day I saw him, I told him I got the envelope in my mailbox and I appreciated the gesture. I told him it made my day.

He said he chose me because he felt I was teaching him a lot…that previous math teachers didn’t teach him, they didn’t provide guidance and they rushed him. Well, that made me feel ok. I just kind of felt I was doing the bare minimum. But I still felt good in that I had a positive effect on at least one student.

rap and test scores

My kids listen to rap. For most of them I’m sure it’s the only music they listen too. I listen to rap and I’m aware that a lot of the themes prevalent in rap music relate to promoting yourself and disrespecting someone else especially police and other authority figures. In rap the portrayal of success is too often as a drug deal, pimp, thief, or rapper. School is almost never portrayed in a positive way. To maintain a tough street image, rappers have to hate school and police.

In one of our classes Ben, our program coordinator, brought up a statistic about how beginning in 1987 and 1988, the test scores of black and Hispanic students started to decline. The reason of AIDS and crack cocaine were brought up and I think those were definitely main contributors but rap music also popped into my head. In 1987 and 1988 rap became popular...getting more play time on the radio and tv video stations and it’s stars were becoming more mainstream. One of its biggest stars was NWA who introduced gansta rap which promoted violence, drug dealing, and prostitution in every song they made.

I listen to the lyrics my students recite in class and they filled with negativity and anger. Rap and hip hop exudes itself in my students. From the way they act, talk and view school and rules…hip hop has had a powerful impact in their lives, most of it for the negative. I listen to rap and I know not all the songs and rappers are negative and portray this image. However, the songs that are reaching my students…the songs that they like are often very negative and I believe it’s impacting them by the message it’s sending.

Since the late 1980s the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and crack cocaine has declined (no research done but I'm pretty sure this is true). However test scores for blacks and Hispanics have continued to decline and the popularity of rap and hip hop (with it’s “f” the police attitude) has soared.

math basketball

My students love to play basketball. They love it so much they shot their trash into my trash can almost non stop. They’d shoot. They’d make it. They’d shoot. They’d miss. They’d get up, pick up their trash, sometimes they wouldn’t. Sometimes they’d shoot while I was teaching and it’d bug the heck out of me. So what I did was I moved the trash can and put it under a table. And it’s worked beautifully.

It’s worked so well that last week I decided to take the trash can back out but this time for a game. I broke up my classes into teams of about 4 or 5. Give each team a problem to do and if they get it right the team gets two points and the person who answers gets to shoot a free throw for one point. Each time the team answers a different team member must answer but they get a chance to confer with each other before they answer. The team that wins either gets candy or points on their next test.

They all get involved because they motivate each other to get involved.

Thoughts on the Reading Wars

After reading The Reading Wars I think the argument or whole language and phonics is overblown and the two sides are too caught up in the argument to try to come to a common ground.
In general I think phonics is most useful for beginning learners because it provides the necessary foundational structure for the learning process. Without this foundation I think the whole language method would be much less effective leaving the learner to make assumptions about proper practice that may or may not be true. For example if a person were asked to write a book in Russian without having any knowledge of the Russian language they would have no foundational knowledge to rely on.
I think in the first and second and third grades phonics could be used very effectively to teach reading but as children get older whole language should be integrated as they become more dynamic in their learning.
Once the foundation in reading is firmly set, the learner needs the freedom to build on that foundation on their own with independent reading and writing. If a high school teacher were forced to teach phonics to his/her students I don’t think the students would get very much out of the class.
However learning word origins, root meanings, and the Latin language could fall under the phonics method of teaching and these subjects would be very useful to better learn and understand literature. I just feel that the older a person becomes, in order for their mind to expand its creativity and reach its full potential, some of the rules of written language need to be emphasized less and independent thought needs to be emphasized more.

I'm a new teacher...not a first year teacher

Since returning from Christmas vacation, I’ve enjoyed teaching my classes more than ever have this year. I’ve gotten into a routine and the students know the routine. Although they will continue to complain, there is a stable structure to my classes that I rather enjoy.

This doesn’t mean I don’t have classroom management issues. I had an outside observer come into my class who gave me really good reviews to the administrators. It made me feel good and relieved when the principal told me Ms. Connely (our observer) had nothing but good things to say. She mentioned minor classroom management issues but regarded them as typical first-year teacher issues.

Now is the time when I wonder how long can I use the first-year teacher excuse? Does it go into the second year a little bit? Can the term be changed to new-teacher issues…new-teacher meaning 1st to 3rd year teachers? This would give me a few more years to get my classroom management together. Otherwise, what’s going to happen at the end of this first year? What if I have some of the same problems my 2nd year? Will I be a bad teacher? Quite possibly. I feel that I’m expected to have everything straightened out by the end of this year. What if I don’t?

The one thing I’ve been good at and improved the most on is having work for the kids to do and lecturing as little as possible. I’ve also been much better at giving individual help during class because more of the class is on task. However, I have quiet a few characters in my class. Although I love their personalities, I don’t yet know how to most effectively deal with them in a classroom setting.

getting mean

About 3 weeks ago, Dr Rowland came into my classroom to observe my 2nd period for my evaluation. It went was really bad. 2nd Period is my worst class and they lived up to their reputation when Dr. Rowland came in. It was embarrassing. I had students throwing paper, and all types of other objects. After that class I decided it was time to put my foot down. I’ve done so by yelling screaming, and threatening to call parents. My overall everyday teaching voice has increased quite a bit, almost yelling as I teach. It’s actually been working. I’ve had to write fewer students names on the board. I told one of the teachers at school about what had happened and he told me the students are probably responding more to my yelling at them because that’s what they’re used to at home.

I don’t think it’s just the fact that I’m yelling and screaming at them but that I mean business when I’m in the class and they can’t walk all over me. It’s still an issue of control and I need to work at asserting my agenda. I’m going to keep doing it. The past three weeks I was finally called mean. I’ve taken an attitude of “drill them and kill them.” I’m giving them a lot of work to do during class and I’m expecting them to do it…yelling, threatening and demanding when I have too.

Anyways, I also think I’m getting a better feel of what to do in the class and not being so mechanical in my day to day lessons and management style.

summer blogs

I remember during the summer when we were student teaching. I taught a eight kids and I thought it was pretty easy. I remember seeing Mrs. Raybon have such control of those students and when I was up in front every once in awhile I that I’d lost their attention and talking would begin even while Mrs. Raybon was in the class. I would try my teacher look not to much success but I thought once I had my own class room things would be a lot easier because I would be the teacher and the students had to listen to me. Well I’ve found out it definitely isn’t easier.

I remember watching myself teach and still feeling like I was a student preparing myself. I now feel very much like a teacher who’s worn out and ready for a break. During the summer I felt much more idealistic in what type of activities I could implement in the classroom. Now I know only a few activities work and I that my main method of teaching is drill them and kill them (with work). I don’t feel like the class room should be so fun. I now feel more like the students should do work and put more effort into doing their work.

Success Story

I don’t know if I have one solid legitimate success story to share as of yet. I wish I could tell about a story where I’ve touched a student in some way and his or her grades have dramatically improved. But I can’t. I think my success story is that I haven’t died. I’m happy that I’ve made it this far, I’ve enjoyed most of it and I want to get better.

There have been days where I didn’t think I’d make it. I think I’m getting used to the teacher schedule and the rigorous work day. Classroom management is another thing I’ve adjusted to. It is getting better but it can get much better. With all the things my that I’ve had to physically and mentally get used to I think my big success is that I’m still here to teach another day and I’m looking forward to it.

My parents

When my parents first came to this country they had nothing. They didn’t speak the language, they didn’t have any skills, and they had no money. My dad cleaned people’s houses while my mom worked at McDonalds but at the same time they also knew they wouldn’t be able to survive living that way. They saw education as the key to their success and both managed to take classes at the community college while working full time. Then came a key moment in our family’s history. My dad’s brothers and sisters decided to move to Texas to venture into the dry cleaning and restaurant business. This would be the first time my family would slit up since being in the United States. My dad decided to stay in Virginia to continue his schooling while his parents, brothers and sisters moved to Texas. Many of his friends who arrived in the US decided to continue working their manual labor jobs, earn and save money, and not think about school. Today, both my parents have earned degrees and have been working in Fairfax County Public Schools for over 15 years. Many of their friends who didn’t go to school are still doing the same jobs they did when they first arrived. My parents, because of their education, have continued to climb from one position to the next.

I told this story to some of my students after they served their detention on Tuesday. I told them whatever their situation is at home, however bad it is….education is their key to making it out and not to throw it away. I told them that it may not seem like it sometimes, but in this country, if you want to work hard, you will make it. You’re only limited by how hard you’re willing to work. I reminded them that my parents didn’t know English and were able to find work and go to school. There are people in this country who know the language and are unwilling in some way to find a job. I reiterated to them that as long as you work hard, you will be successful. I hope that story will have some type of lasting impact on them.