For the first nine weeks of the school year, I've been telling one of my students how important it is for him to know his multiplication tables. I told him that he couldn't do division without knowing his multiplication tables and that he couldn't do a lot of math without that knowledge. Finally, several weeks ago I asked him what would happen when a girl came up to him and asked him a question about the multiplication table. Wouldn't he feel dumb if that happened and he didn't know the answer?
My student walks into my room today and first thing he says to me is
Student: "OMG... Mr. Sam... she asked me!"
Me: what? Who asked you what? Did someone ask you out?
Student: "noooo... a girl asked me what 6x7 was.."
Me: LOL.. "what'd you tell her?
Student: "That I didn't know"
Me: I told you man! You should've listened to me!
I love it when random things I say come true :) Thank you Lord. Hopefully he'll be more motivated to learn his multiplication table now :)
Have a good day!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Long Overdue
haha.. and a month and a half after I update that "it's coming", It's finally here! haha Didn't think you'd have to wait that long did you guys! (I didn't either)
I really do apologize for those who have been waiting for an update. I've come to realize that there was so much that I've been meaning to write that every time that I've sat down to update, I get overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. This is what happens when you keep procrastinating...
Anyhow, I am sitting at Barnes and Nobles currently and working on lesson plans, and I decided that I needed a break, so here I am.
Two and a half months have passed since the craziness of summer Institute, which is where I'll start this update :P
Summer Institute in the Mississippi Delta was quite frankly an experience of a lifetime. Arriving in Cleveland, Mississippi in the middle of June, I came in knowing not what to expect, not knowing what Teach For America was really about, and by every means possible, completely unprepared to teach. After a week of orientation (meaning 15 hour days of instruction on the principles of effective teaching, seminars, and activities), we were introduced to our first class of students as teachers. The next four weeks of teaching 4th graders was the most intense experience of my life. Making adjustments each day to ensure that we were learning from mistakes and improving our effectiveness as educators. Those 5 weeks formed the basis of my formal instruction on being a teacher.
Several people have asked me whether it's effective to put a teacher into a classroom after only 5 weeks of training as opposed to those that go the formal route. To now answer that question, I believe that yes it is to an extent. Simply put, of course more training would be beneficial for anybody. However, given those 5 weeks, I believe that now being in my own classroom I am using every skill that I learned at institute in my everyday teaching.
Following the end of institute, I moved back to South Louisiana (the Greater Baton Rouge area) for another week of planning for the school year. This year found an extremely slow hiring process for the South Louisiana region (I just heard that the last of our corps members were hired last week!) I was blessed to have been hired on the wednesday I got back to the region.
So starting on August 9, 2010, I was officially a teacher of the Pointe Coupee Parish School Board teaching at Livonia High School as the self-contained Special Education teacher. August 12, 2010 was the first day of school and now two months later, I can only say that each day is a continuous learning process.
My experience in the classroom has so far been extremely challenging but enjoyable. Though I face various challenges with my students, I am blessed to have a solid administration and an extremely helpful Special Education department in the school and at the school board. I also have two para-educators in my room who have been so far amazing. One of them in particular has simply inspired me by the way she loves these students as if they were her own. She comes to work each day and just seriously loves on them, and I'm really challenged to be more reflective of the gospel to them as well.
The students in my classroom face various challenges of their own. Some are challenged physically, some mentally, some behaviorally. However, the one common thread that they share are that they are each students. The upsetting thing about that is that for the last several years, most of them may as well not have been students. They came to school to pass the time and because they had to. In terms of academics, they simply learned basic life skills, not because of a lack of capability but rather because of a lack of expectation. I found that at the beginning of this school year, all my plans to teach them 8th grade level standards (as the youngest was in 8th grade), were not going to happen. Upon giving some diagnostic assessments, I discovered that my students (8th-12th graders)on average ranged from Pre-K to 3rd grade levels in reading and in math. They had no desire to learn, nor did they understand why they needed to learn.
I spent an entire month investing them into learning and how to learn. It was a difficult battle and still is, but I'm proud to say that they are now students who are learning spelling words, how to read, and basic math skills. To share some of the accomplishments that they've made so far: One student who did not know his alphabet nor his numbers at the start of the year is now fluent in recognizing alphabets and nearly fluent in the letter sounds; a senior who was adamant about graduating this year has decided to stay in school another year to learn more; two of my students who did not know how to read words are now reading Kindergarten and 1st grade level books. These students each have a goal to make 2-3 years of growth within this year and are well on their way to getting there.
haha, well this was a rather long update. Thanks to everyone that takes the time to read and please please feel free to ask any more questions about what I'm doing or about TFA in general.
NEXT UPDATE: Life in South Louisiana
I really really am going to try to be better at updating more often.. please keep me accountable!!
Prayer Requests:
- That I would be reflecting the Gospel in my classroom and in my life here
- Several of my students live very tough lives. Pray that they would be encouraged and find some peace.
I really do apologize for those who have been waiting for an update. I've come to realize that there was so much that I've been meaning to write that every time that I've sat down to update, I get overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. This is what happens when you keep procrastinating...
Anyhow, I am sitting at Barnes and Nobles currently and working on lesson plans, and I decided that I needed a break, so here I am.
Two and a half months have passed since the craziness of summer Institute, which is where I'll start this update :P
Summer Institute in the Mississippi Delta was quite frankly an experience of a lifetime. Arriving in Cleveland, Mississippi in the middle of June, I came in knowing not what to expect, not knowing what Teach For America was really about, and by every means possible, completely unprepared to teach. After a week of orientation (meaning 15 hour days of instruction on the principles of effective teaching, seminars, and activities), we were introduced to our first class of students as teachers. The next four weeks of teaching 4th graders was the most intense experience of my life. Making adjustments each day to ensure that we were learning from mistakes and improving our effectiveness as educators. Those 5 weeks formed the basis of my formal instruction on being a teacher.
Several people have asked me whether it's effective to put a teacher into a classroom after only 5 weeks of training as opposed to those that go the formal route. To now answer that question, I believe that yes it is to an extent. Simply put, of course more training would be beneficial for anybody. However, given those 5 weeks, I believe that now being in my own classroom I am using every skill that I learned at institute in my everyday teaching.
Following the end of institute, I moved back to South Louisiana (the Greater Baton Rouge area) for another week of planning for the school year. This year found an extremely slow hiring process for the South Louisiana region (I just heard that the last of our corps members were hired last week!) I was blessed to have been hired on the wednesday I got back to the region.
So starting on August 9, 2010, I was officially a teacher of the Pointe Coupee Parish School Board teaching at Livonia High School as the self-contained Special Education teacher. August 12, 2010 was the first day of school and now two months later, I can only say that each day is a continuous learning process.
My experience in the classroom has so far been extremely challenging but enjoyable. Though I face various challenges with my students, I am blessed to have a solid administration and an extremely helpful Special Education department in the school and at the school board. I also have two para-educators in my room who have been so far amazing. One of them in particular has simply inspired me by the way she loves these students as if they were her own. She comes to work each day and just seriously loves on them, and I'm really challenged to be more reflective of the gospel to them as well.
The students in my classroom face various challenges of their own. Some are challenged physically, some mentally, some behaviorally. However, the one common thread that they share are that they are each students. The upsetting thing about that is that for the last several years, most of them may as well not have been students. They came to school to pass the time and because they had to. In terms of academics, they simply learned basic life skills, not because of a lack of capability but rather because of a lack of expectation. I found that at the beginning of this school year, all my plans to teach them 8th grade level standards (as the youngest was in 8th grade), were not going to happen. Upon giving some diagnostic assessments, I discovered that my students (8th-12th graders)on average ranged from Pre-K to 3rd grade levels in reading and in math. They had no desire to learn, nor did they understand why they needed to learn.
I spent an entire month investing them into learning and how to learn. It was a difficult battle and still is, but I'm proud to say that they are now students who are learning spelling words, how to read, and basic math skills. To share some of the accomplishments that they've made so far: One student who did not know his alphabet nor his numbers at the start of the year is now fluent in recognizing alphabets and nearly fluent in the letter sounds; a senior who was adamant about graduating this year has decided to stay in school another year to learn more; two of my students who did not know how to read words are now reading Kindergarten and 1st grade level books. These students each have a goal to make 2-3 years of growth within this year and are well on their way to getting there.
haha, well this was a rather long update. Thanks to everyone that takes the time to read and please please feel free to ask any more questions about what I'm doing or about TFA in general.
NEXT UPDATE: Life in South Louisiana
I really really am going to try to be better at updating more often.. please keep me accountable!!
Prayer Requests:
- That I would be reflecting the Gospel in my classroom and in my life here
- Several of my students live very tough lives. Pray that they would be encouraged and find some peace.
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