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Teaching Diaries 1
Aug. 29th, 2020 02:38 pmWell. The first full day of school is in the bag, but it was an intro day and much of it was spent troubleshooting tech issues and getting class lists. This year is already testing my confidence. I’ll be teaching FIVE preps. I used to think “prep” meant “preparation periods,” but it means subjects taught. I’m teaching Writing II, Literature II (the US equivalent is sophomore literature and writing, or year 10 in other countries, I think), American Literature, British Literature, and Research Project. Yup, a whole year devoted to one project.
I’m most intimidated by the research class. The goal is to slowly and thoroughly take students through the research process with the end goal of a 20-25 page paper and formal presentation, and I feel like that is waaaaay too much time. Then again, I’ve never taught it. The students will be largely self-directed, and I’ll be there for moral and technical support. I’m very lucky to have a pretty good relationship with the teacher from Shenzhen who teaches this, and he’s sharing all of his class materials with me. In general, teachers are very generous with time and materials, although I have come across a few who treat teaching like a competition. Like, I had to figure it out on my own, and so should you. And I’ll admit, I had a teacher who basically demanded I do her lesson plans for her last year, and I was like, “No, I’m not doing that. But here are some things I use when I teach this content. You are welcome to it all, and I will answer any questions you have about it, but I’m not planning your classes for you.” There’s a balance between sharing and hoarding.
ANYWAY!
I didn’t really get to “see” my kids this week as the webcam set up is very narrow. And it’s very strange to have the kids I can see look at “me” — the projected video on the screen — while I’m looking at them, but we aren’t facing each other. In a way, it makes me feel more disconnected because my instinct tells me they aren’t paying attention to me because I don’t perceive them as looking at me, but they are! It’s just disconcerting. Over the years, I’ve learned how to connect with students who can’t/won’t make eye contact when we’re in the same room, but this shows me how much I have relied on physical proximity to get to know people and make connections. Although last year, when I didn’t ever “see” the kids because they wouldn’t turn on their cameras during meetings, I still felt connected through the chat function in Teams Meetings. Ah well, it’s only one day, and it’s temporary.
Distance made me reevaluate my traditional Getting To Know You activities. In the past, I’ve done things like classroom versions of escape rooms for team building activities. I like to play “Would You Rather?” with fun, age-appropriate questions, like “Would you rather have a puppy-sized elephant or an elephant-sized puppy as a pet?” Their answers and rationale are always fun and insightful. This year, I took the questions from this post a friend shared on Facebook. I like them because there are kids who may not want to share information that could reveal their home lives.
Now I just have to figure out how to teach the first few units. I’m really struggling with the British and American Lit curriculum, particularly the first few required units. As much as I’ve liked working with my current organization and the freedom I’ve been allowed to exercise in choosing things for my curricululm, the lit survey classes make me want to scream. Scream along with me. Here’s the Unit Statement for the first British Lit unit:
Unit Statement: What makes a hero? Does fate control our lives? Can people live up to high ideals? In this unit, students consider these guiding questions with a focus on Old English and Medieval British literature in the years between 449 and 1485. This unit culminates in a literary analysis which uses evidence from a text to answer one of the guiding questions or a topic selected by the teacher.
Yep! Let’s cover 1,000 years of lit and culture in three weeks, and, according to the textbook, the only things worth mentioning are Canterbury Tales and Beowulf. Aeeihaovrighakdpiehgpwefdp’wEHIPPWIHG!!!!
My only consolation is that in subsequent units, I’ll have a lot more room to diversify our reading. My sophomore lit class is arranged by genre and structure, so I have MUCH more freedom off the bat. Our first unit is a short story unit, so I’ve got a working list of more diverse offerings.
To end on gratitude over anxiety, I’m really grateful for all the suggestions people have given to help me decolonize my curriculum. For the things I can’t chuck, I can hopefully share some context. Let’s just hope I don’t get fired after the Transcendentalism unit because I might spend a class period ranting about Thoreau and how much I want to dig up his corpse and kick it.
I’m most intimidated by the research class. The goal is to slowly and thoroughly take students through the research process with the end goal of a 20-25 page paper and formal presentation, and I feel like that is waaaaay too much time. Then again, I’ve never taught it. The students will be largely self-directed, and I’ll be there for moral and technical support. I’m very lucky to have a pretty good relationship with the teacher from Shenzhen who teaches this, and he’s sharing all of his class materials with me. In general, teachers are very generous with time and materials, although I have come across a few who treat teaching like a competition. Like, I had to figure it out on my own, and so should you. And I’ll admit, I had a teacher who basically demanded I do her lesson plans for her last year, and I was like, “No, I’m not doing that. But here are some things I use when I teach this content. You are welcome to it all, and I will answer any questions you have about it, but I’m not planning your classes for you.” There’s a balance between sharing and hoarding.
ANYWAY!
I didn’t really get to “see” my kids this week as the webcam set up is very narrow. And it’s very strange to have the kids I can see look at “me” — the projected video on the screen — while I’m looking at them, but we aren’t facing each other. In a way, it makes me feel more disconnected because my instinct tells me they aren’t paying attention to me because I don’t perceive them as looking at me, but they are! It’s just disconcerting. Over the years, I’ve learned how to connect with students who can’t/won’t make eye contact when we’re in the same room, but this shows me how much I have relied on physical proximity to get to know people and make connections. Although last year, when I didn’t ever “see” the kids because they wouldn’t turn on their cameras during meetings, I still felt connected through the chat function in Teams Meetings. Ah well, it’s only one day, and it’s temporary.
Distance made me reevaluate my traditional Getting To Know You activities. In the past, I’ve done things like classroom versions of escape rooms for team building activities. I like to play “Would You Rather?” with fun, age-appropriate questions, like “Would you rather have a puppy-sized elephant or an elephant-sized puppy as a pet?” Their answers and rationale are always fun and insightful. This year, I took the questions from this post a friend shared on Facebook. I like them because there are kids who may not want to share information that could reveal their home lives.
Now I just have to figure out how to teach the first few units. I’m really struggling with the British and American Lit curriculum, particularly the first few required units. As much as I’ve liked working with my current organization and the freedom I’ve been allowed to exercise in choosing things for my curricululm, the lit survey classes make me want to scream. Scream along with me. Here’s the Unit Statement for the first British Lit unit:
Unit Statement: What makes a hero? Does fate control our lives? Can people live up to high ideals? In this unit, students consider these guiding questions with a focus on Old English and Medieval British literature in the years between 449 and 1485. This unit culminates in a literary analysis which uses evidence from a text to answer one of the guiding questions or a topic selected by the teacher.
Yep! Let’s cover 1,000 years of lit and culture in three weeks, and, according to the textbook, the only things worth mentioning are Canterbury Tales and Beowulf. Aeeihaovrighakdpiehgpwefdp’wEHIPPWIHG!!!!
My only consolation is that in subsequent units, I’ll have a lot more room to diversify our reading. My sophomore lit class is arranged by genre and structure, so I have MUCH more freedom off the bat. Our first unit is a short story unit, so I’ve got a working list of more diverse offerings.
To end on gratitude over anxiety, I’m really grateful for all the suggestions people have given to help me decolonize my curriculum. For the things I can’t chuck, I can hopefully share some context. Let’s just hope I don’t get fired after the Transcendentalism unit because I might spend a class period ranting about Thoreau and how much I want to dig up his corpse and kick it.
