Week Eight

The Good:

Early in the week, one of my favorite students (I know we're not "supposed" to have "favorites," but let's face it, we all do...), Kayla, invited me to come to her parent/advisor conference. Kayla is not in my 12th grade writing class because she's a 10th grader. I know her because she was in one the 9th grade classes that I did my student teaching in last year. Additionally, she is currently in my Digital Journalism class, and she is a member of the young women's empowerment group that I coach. She is a wonderful young woman who is driven and focused. I was honored when she asked me to attend, and I smiled every time she reminded me about her conference during the week. 

I attended her conference on Friday. When I walked in the door, Kayla immediately introduced me to her mother, who said, "It is so nice to meet the teacher my daughter always talks about." During the conference, we went over Kayla's current accomplishments: she earned a 3.5 GPA for the 1st marking period, she was accepted to a program that is going to allow her to shadow a medical student in San Francisco once a month, and many teacher around campus have recognized her a student leader this year. Despite all of these wonderful accomplishments, Kayla was most excited to tell her mom that she is now a "published writer." She submitted her first article for journalism last week, and I published it to our brand new news website. It was amazing and rewarding to see Kayla glowing with pride.

During the conference, Kayla's advisor asked her a series of questions -- one of which was, "Do you consider your advisor and your teachers to be partners in your academic success?" She replied, "Yes, I do. All of my teachers are great, and they help me learn. Plus, I love Ms. Oliver. I spend all my time with her after school. I know she cares about me." I was taken aback and completely honored by her response. This young lady sees me as an ally in her emotional and academic success. I do deeply care about Kayla and her success. Therefore, I must be doing something right if she recognizes that! :)

The Bad:

My students are not turning in their homework consistently, despite that fact that I give them time in class to complete most of their work. It's frustrating! I do NOT assign busy work nor random handouts. My students ONLY have homework that directly pertains to the write piece that they are composing. For example, I assign pre-writing questions and guides, multiple drafts of the essay, and revision plan handouts. All of these assignments are important for my students writing process. I know that if they don't do these homework assignments, then they will most likely NOT turn in an final draft that will receive a passing grade. At this point, I'm at a loss about what to do.... Any advice?

Additionally, my students recently turned in the "most" final draft of their "This I Believe" essays. After grading all of their essays, I discovered that 20 students (a third of the senior class) need to revise their essays in order to receive a passing grade (a C or higher). A third of my students is too many! At first I felt like I failed them. Perhaps I did not scaffold the assignment enough; perhaps my expectations were unclear. But, then I took a closer look at WHO didn't pass the assignment. Out of the 20 students, 17 did NOT go through the multiple drafts that I assigned. Therefore, they were not able to participate in the writing group or peer revising process. Furthermore, 10 of the students did not revise at all. By this, I mean that they simply turned in their first drafts and that's it... So, after deep reflection, I realized that I really only failed three of my students. Those 3 students did go through the process that I assigned and still did not have the skills that they needed to be successful. Therefore, I need to make sure that I focus on those three students during the next writing assignment!

The Ugly:

This week, I realized that I might have different expectations for my writing classes. This realization came to me after attending of my M.A. classes at UC Berkeley. One of my classmates mentioned that she might be doing my research on the expectations that teachers bring into the classroom and how it affects the way that she perceives her students. Her comment made me think about the way that I perceive my students.

I teach two sections of writing. Although my school does not “official” track students, the internships that my students are accepted into (ALL Excel Academy students have to do an internship) affect the academic classes that they end up taking. Most of the students in my 5^th period class are involved in “more prestigious” and “highly sought after” internship placements. Therefore, many of the students in that class are more highly skilled, especially in terms of their writing ability. My 6^th period is primarily made up of the seniors who don’t have internships this year or seniors who did not met the minimum requirements for the “more prestigious” internships. Needless to say, there is a difference in skill levels between the two classes. In addition, I have many students with behavioral issues in my 6^th period class.

This last week, I realized that I perceive my students differently, which affects the way that I teach my students and the expectations I have for them. This isn’t good! I expect my 6^th period students to be less engaged and more disruptive. I expect my 5^th period students to get more out of each activity and to participate more in their learning. These expectations affect the way the energy that I bring into the classroom. I often find myself excited to teach 5^th period, while I have anxiety about teaching 6^th because the class intimidates me.

I’m glad that I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on my perceptions of students and the expectations that I generate because of those perceptions. This realization has forced me to look critically at my teaching, especially my ability to differentiate my instruction. My goal is to bring the same kind of energy and enthusiasm into both of my classes next week. Both classes DESERVE my best.