First year teacher probs

So three weeks into school and I had my first year teacher doubts. When I got my job at my dream school, I thought I would be walking into this year with smiles and I would pass the whole "is teaching really what I'm supposed to do with my life?" phase. Well, I didn't.

When I got hired, I agreed to teach Tier 3 students Freshmen (students who are multiple reading levels under grade level). I will be the first to tell you that I LOVE working with students who have difficult home lives, behavioral problems and educationally lower. But I might have taken on WAY more than I could handle with this group. I have 16 students in my class and 9 of them read between a kindergarten through 3 grade reading level with vocabularies to match. Most of them have attitudes and need attention more than one single teacher can give them.

On Thursday, I learned what 16 lower level students who don't want to be in school can do to your mind. Doubt in my abilities, fear that I would ruin a chance for these students to excel, and the feeling of not being good enough. After talking to a department head and several other people who had taught Tier 3 students, learning that most people (even teachers who have been doing this for many many years) struggle.

The struggle is beyond real. This last week was Homecoming, which is just a crazy week in general. Adding PL and a department meeting, along with Powder Puff and a pep assembly.... I am EXHAUSTED. On top of being a first year teacher. The struggle is seriously real.

What students don't understand about teachers

After my time at my placement school ended, I went back into subbing for the last few weeks of school. I love subbing and getting to talk to and interact with students I may not have gotten a chance to meet. A while back I met a student who was angry, hurt and mean, in the entire time that I had known him there was never a smile or kind word. After this year of not getting to see him or interact with him, I went back to his school to sub and was greeted by a smiling, happy student, a glimpse of hope  was in his eye. He introduced me to his girlfriend and was more excited than ever to tell me about school and his grades. Then he asked me what I was doing that evening and invited me to his choir concert. If you ever wanted to see ugly crying, it was me that day after school. I went because for the first time in a LONG time, I felt like he was happy and I didn't want to disappoint him. So I cleared my schedule for the evening and went and the boy on stage was no longer the angry student that I had once talked to but a happy kid.

At intermission, I ran to the bathroom and when I walked out of the restroom, he was standing there with a BIG smile on his face. I gave him a hug and told him how proud I was of him. Ugly tears gathered in my eyes and he laughed at me and told me to stop. Of course, when someone tells me to stop crying... I cry more. Shocker, right? I sat through the rest of the show and thought about how much this student had changed. After the show he came back down, gave me a hug and thanked me for coming to his show. Again UGLY tears came out and I again told him how proud I was of him and how far he had come in a short time. We talked about goals and dreams for the future. Never have I been so proud.

Now you are probably asking yourself, why are you telling us this story? My answer is simple: I didn't know how much talking to a VERY hateful individual could help change them and I never thought that he was going to change. My negativity was not helping him as a student or as a person. The same will go for your students as well. If you are negative, they are going to be negative as well. If you treat them like they are inferior, they are going to act like it. Very rarely are you going to get a student that is down to act better if you are negative. They have enough negativity in their lives, without adding you into it.

Be the light that all students need.  Don't pour water on their fire.


You will never know what students will take away from you but I hope in my future, I will be the teacher that students talk about that helped them through the hard times, instead of making things worse for them.

Much love
Ms Perret

As the year comes to a close

Just a week left, what are we to do?! Two weeks ago, I accepted a teaching position at my placement school. Yay! With some talk with the department heads, I learned that I would be teaching Tier 3 Freshman and Senior. I was given a book by one of the department heads called When Kids Can't Read, What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers and all I could think was "wait, when kids can't read?".  School did not prepare me for a classroom full of students who could not read. 

"Crap, What did I get myself into?" was the only thing I could think about. Talk about my privilege-- how did students get all the way to high school without knowing how to read? Sitting down, thinking about the first few weeks of school, I really got into what this book was saying. Some kids can read but their comprehension level is low, some can barely sound out words and we are expected them to read things like Romeo and Juliet which was hard enough to understand even after spending a whole semester listening to Dr. Connor talk about how AMAZING William Shakespeare is. 

This book breaks down strategies that were taught to me throughout my education but I feel like we missed the mark because we were talking about student who could read. Starting from the ground up, next year will be a challenge but a challenge that I am ready to accept. But explaining to students how to become good readers and teaching them how important it is to do these things is something that I now get to figure out. 

One thing that stuck out to me is this question "The recognize most words automatically, read fluently, vary their reading rate to match the purpose and level of difficulty, and "hear" the text as they read the words" (page 35). As a teacher I, sometimes, forget that student of my students do this naturally and there are other students who are going to struggle with this. Explaining how important this is to a student is what is going to get students excited about wanting to read. 

After telling my students about my job offer, I was EXTREMELY happy that most of my students were just as excited for me to come back next year. Remember, it is the small things in life that can make your day. I have had several students tell me throughout the semester that they have never finished reading a book: One of my success stories just finished his second novel that was almost 400 pages and was excited to start his third. This girl almost cried. The student had to talk me out of crying, actually. After telling him how proud I was of him, he told me, no one has ever told him that. Such an amazing kids -- serious tears after he walked away. This is the same kid who calls me Boss. LOL serious though, some kids are amazing if you give them a chance. 

Ms. Perret

When your week gets you thinking.... and you leave school, unhappy.

This week was full of IEP reports, multiple students in ISSR, and absents in abundance. So, I got to talking with my mentor teacher, I walked out of the classroom and all I could think about is "How is it that the ADULTS that run this state are taking so MUCH away from the kids, who have no choice but to be in this state? How do we expect them to be successful in the world, without any help?"

 My drive home was full of unanswered questions and so much fear for this generation that already has its own problems. As educators, we are already dealing with electronics in the classroom, 2nd grade reading levels from high school students, absenteeism and a lack of motivation from students. And at the end of last year, this district was forced to close multiple smaller schools that were a benefit to students. Now teachers are dealing with students with IEP’s that state they should be in a small, quiet classroom and then they have 32 students in one class and 10 of these IEP’s. How are we supposed to have a "QUIET" classroom with 32 students in it? How is 32 students considered a "SMALL" classroom?

Why are adults, who had everything they need when they were in school, taking money away from schools and students? Why is it actors and actresses are making MILLIONS of dollars for one television show and the education system does not have enough money to get these students what they need to be successful in school? Why are athletes making millions a year to throw a ball? Even though some of them cannot read.

This athlete read at a middle school level and he had to figure out how to read at his college level... WHEN HE WAS IN COLLEGE. What would have happened to him if he could not play football and he didn't get into college? He would have been just like millions of other students who don't graduate and are living off the government. OR worse, spending a majority of their lives in the prison system. But because he could throw a ball, he was given an opportunity most are not given.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/super-bowl-2017-malcolm-mitchell-patriots-wide-receivers-proudest-achievement-isnt-making-the-super-bowl/

All we are doing is making it to where more students cannot graduate, making it harder for them to get jobs and be successful in the world outside of school. How is this helpful? How is creating well rounded adults who are going to help our economy? It’s not. People are taking money away from student who need it. They need teachers who are learning how to teach them. They need teachers who can give them some time to help them learn. But how are teachers supposed to help them learn when they cannot get students to attend classes, regularly? How are teachers supposed to create a positive work environment when their students are hungry because their family does not have enough food? Or when their families cannot afford to buy them school supplies?  Teachers are having to use their own money to buy supply to make sure their students are successful in their class. Teachers are having to figure out how to motivate students who are not motivated for school with a limited number of books that students would find interesting and no money to buy more books or any supply to get students engaged.

Now if you ask any teacher, none of them got into education for the money. But to me, there is nothing more frustrating than having nothing to help my students be successful. We don't have special schools to have them, we don't have supplies, we don't money... What do with have? The amount of heart that each teacher has is nothing without supply to help or with the proper number of school open to be successful.

How am I, a future educator, supposed to help show these students their true potential and help them change the world without help? Today has been a day that has pulled me down and frustrated me more than anything.

http://ksn.com/2016/06/03/kansas-schools-preparing-for-shutdown-as-funding-crisis-looms/

This is just one link that talks about the closing of very important schools in Kansas. There are multiple districts going through this and multiple schools closing because of lack of funding.

Why are we stealing from the future of this world? Why are we bailing out company instead of helping our schools? What is more importance than our kids?

Then when it is all said and done, the Kansas Supreme Court throws out this article: http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2017/20170302/113267.pdf
So this entire time, we have been cheating our student out of the RIGHTS  that they should have as an American! Why are we taking away BASIC rights for students? Why are we having to closer smaller schools that benefit students? Why are we taking away the rights of these students?
Instead, we are going to spend millions of dollars building a new prison to help with the MASS amounts of inmates, who are given the chance to get their GED, learn new jobs, get fed three meals a day and even get to buy things like televisions and extra food to eat. How are we allowing students to go hungry because the only food they get is when they are in school because their parents cannot afford food or worse, when they are raising themselves because their parents are not around? How are we not allowing students to get their GED and forcing them into a classroom and watching them fail? But we are going to finally help them after they have thrown a good chunk of their lives away in jail/prison?

Someone PLEASE explain to me why we are not SUPPORTING the future of this world? Why are we STEALING basic rights away from helpless students?!

Ms. Perret

First weeks in the books

As worlds collide, I stood back today and walked my mentor teacher teach her lesson. I started thinking about this year and all of the things that have happened over the last year.

But most of all, I stared at my students and wondered what was going on in the world outside of our classroom. I know some of these students have lives that are more difficult than others, I know I have students that struggle with what life is really supposed to be. Whether it be with parents who aren't around, or lack of money within the home, or things way worse than that I want to think about, my student struggle on a day-to-day basis.

However as I read articles regarding parent involvement I sometimes wonder if this is something that is successful in all school districts. And what happens to students whose parents want nothing to do with getting involved in their school life or Worse parents who think that their student is wasting time going to school. What happens with students whose parents are pushing them in a negative Direction or what happens when they leave my classroom and are being told things way different than what I believe. I feel like a lot of my students struggle with the identity that their parents have forced upon them. Involving parents in the community article makes it seem like all parents want to be involved. However I've experienced many times in my five years working for the district, I know that this is not true for all of my students.

Within the article I believe it is important to remember that we are all different, and that some parents are not going to feel as welcome as other parents are. It will be a small steps that get you through those relationships with parents that are different than yourself.

This week even though it is only Tuesday I feel has been the longest week. Struggling with students who want nothing to do with getting their education, and definitely wanting nothing to do with me. I struggle with students who want nothing to do with turning in their school work, reading any book even if they get to pick it, or even answering simple questions because "it is stupid to them". How do you explain to students that this piece of paper that they are working for can change their world dramatically. How can you explain to students whose parents are telling them the only reason they're in school is because the state forces them to put them in school. I know these are struggles that teachers face everyday especially in a school district full of poverty. But for the first time in 5 years I feel like I'm losing the battle. And worse I feel like I'm losing a battle to the people that are supposed to be helping guide my students through High school: their parents

Although I think it is extremely helpful to have parents that are involved with in the classroom, I think it is also important to realize that students are going to have to make choices on their own. Once students understand that these choices are for their own good then and only then are we going to be able to push them in the direction that they need to go.

Dealing with students of different ethnicities, and parents that do not speak English is also something that teachers deal with in this District every day. I want to know if there is a legitimate way to get parents involved in the secondary education level. The article involving parent involvement seems to be directed to students at the elementary and middle school level. But at a high school level if parents have not been involved for the last 10 years of their child's education, what makes people think that they want to get involved when that child is 15 years old. I do feel that parents should be involved in their children's education but at what point are we beating something into people that doesn't necessarily need to be. I believe starting this program at a younger age and watching parents develop and grow into active members of their child's education is something that would be very successful in this day and age. However what do we do with students whose parents want nothing to do with their child's education?

 even though it's been a rough week I start tomorrow with my head held high knowing that I can help. Thinking of ways to get parents involved with their students education is going to be the first thing on my list. Followed next fight everything else going on. If you have any advice I would love to hear it!

Samway, Katherine Davies and Denise McKeon. Myths and Realities: Best Practices for English Language Learners. 2nd Ed. Portsmouth,  NH: Heinemann, 2007.

That's all for now
Ms Perret

Superhero (Genre Reflection #2)

Superhero

To find a balance:
School: studying, reading, tests, projects--
Home: work, family, friends, holidays
When did I become a superhero?
“Just read these 30 pages, that’s all for next class”
30 pages times five classes- that’s all.
a paper, a cough:
Where are my super human powers?

“Will you do this” “Can you do this”
“Ms. Help me!”
Demands of a classroom, not yet your own.
Just call me Super teacher!

24 hours a day- just not enough.
All nighters—coffee, energy drinks.
Just to get through the day.
I don’t think my super power is supposed to be falling asleep in class.

Crap—flat tire, a test in just an hour
I should have just stayed in bed.
Ice cold hands, fighting back tears
Superheroes don’t cry. Get it together

Yup, might as well have not even taken that test
What makes me think I could change the world?
I cannot even find my pencil.
Superheroes save the world.

Come finals week:
You’ve survived.
Test- done, Projects- completed
Feeling on top of the world! Ready to fly

Just one more semester
Until a classroom all your own.
Time to change the World
You’ve survived what most could not.

Being a superhero isn’t easy
But every smile, every ah ha moment
Makes up for every all nighter, for all the missed events
Being a superhero is hard but becoming a teacher is harder.

Observation day! Online Reflection #2

Hello all,
As the days are coming to an end and the wrap up of Core III is starting, I start to see the end in site. With my students looking for me and asking more about me, I start to wonder just how much of a difference that I am making in their lives. Although I know I'm making more of a difference than I can see right now, I do have several students that have opened up about that difference. It's always nice to hear.

Within my lesson, I got to see a great amount of what my students are all about. Some with more creativity than I ever knew they had. Some with personality beaming  within their assignments and discussions.

The word Prejudice comes with my different connotations... My students started my lesson with a few moans and whiny comments. First a quick write, What do you know about the word Prejudice? What is your definition of prejudice? Have you heard about it? Where? Have you ever been the victim of it? Have you ever done it to someone else? With most students claiming that prejudice does not happen anymore. A simple chuckle is all I had.

Our first start with a old school text about prejudice, "Montgomery Boycott" which is about Rose Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. Popular text within the word of prejudice for obvious reasons. Next we worked through our first lesson: the Prejudice Alphabet. I gave all of the students a notecard that had words about several different types of prejudice or words that had to do with prejudice: some of the words Ageism, Biology, Caste, Classism, "Driving While Black", Ethnic cleansing, Faith, Genocide,
Gender, Homosexuality,  Imperialism,  J'accuse and so on. All the letters of the alphabet. I told them that we were going to the library and that they were to find an article about their word and they would have to explain what it had to do with prejudice. Then for homework, they needed to read the article, circle and define 5 vocabulary words that they found within their articles, summary their articles and underline any main ideas that they found.

The next class, the students grouped together and had a discussion about their words and what their article was about. I saw more personality come out of my quieter students who I gave some pretty different words and who found some extremely interesting articles. I had each group nominate one person who they thought found the most interesting article and I saw most of my students who got up to speak were the quiet ones.

After this, I had my students watch some videos about prejudice. Even though I had to push through a few of them, I got a lot of information and feelings out of my students, especially anger and frustrations. Who would have guessed that most of these students had experienced some sort of prejudice without even knowing.

The next day, we watched some more of the videos in hopes to invoke some conversation. Then we went over one pagers homework of stories about prejudice. Finally, we looked at "poems" that had something to do with prejudice. After letting the students look through these poems and allowing them to decide how they would present this to a group of people, I had one student from each group to recite their poem. The students rocked out on the poetry reads then I showed them exactly how artist sang these poems which were song lyrics. Most of the students were shocked about how much prejudice and talks of prejudice were in these lyrics.

Overall I believe my lesson was successful. Although I am still looking for more things on prejudice to be able to teach in my future classes. I have done some reading on To Kill a Mockingbird which is a popular Prejudice novel and found some interesting topics including the link I have posted: http://teachingtokillamockingbird.com/teaching-theme-in-to-kill-a-mockingbird/

What other things do people have? How do I encourage my students to want to read more of these "classic" texts without hating it?

That's all for now
Ms Perret

Oh just a side note about what is going on within my subbing life. Last week, I spent a couple of days at the same school teaching gym. Super fun. But I meant a young student, I shall call him Mr. Man Bun, he had the greatest bun that I have seen ever in my life. After talking with this student, I learned that he didn't like PE at all and refused to "suit out" but had fun playing the games that we were doing. We had a long conversation about how PE is part of their graduation plan and he wanted to know why that was and of course, I did not have an answer for him. He then told me that wearing a gym shirt is how they get most of their points for PE so it does not matter if they are participating or not, if they don't have the shirt they would fail. I also thought that was weird because several of the students did not have their gym shirts on. Shocked that most of the students thought that after not buying a PE shirt, they were still going to be able to pass PE which they were then told was not going to be able to happen.

How do you get students to want to participate in classes like this? And how do we get students to see that as a freshman, everything that they do matters?