KATE conference

So I will be the first person to tell you that I was not looking forward to giving up two days of my life to go sit in a room full of English teachers... (including my high school English teacher)

But I was very pleased that I went and got to talk to several teachers that had a unique look on the teaching world. I now have a new insight on literature within classrooms: considering ways of creating a classroom library with the hope of giving every student a chance to read about someone just like them.

Thursday, both keynote speakers blew my mind. Hearing Bill Konigsberg's story about a man who struggled with coming out and moved around to figure out who he was. Knowing that there are students within my classroom that are also struggling with their sexuality and struggling with coming out to their families, friends and other classmates. Although I would like to this that my district is an accepting district and we support all students and situations, I know that we also struggle with this idea. The idea of coming out to classmates and other people within the community seems like it could be a struggle for them.

Also Thursday, I got to listen to Stacy Whitman talk about creating classroom curriculums and libraries that incorporate people other than the typical white narrator. Although I know that we are stuck into literature that other people provide for us, I do think that we as teachers need to get together and make sure that our students are learning about important issues such as LGBTQIA, other religions and cultures around the worlds.

After breaking into break out sessions, I got to listen to two teachers that our in their first teaching and how different it has been for both of them. They also gave us helpful hints to get their own first year of teaching.

Next I went to a breakout session that was talking about homosexuality and sports in the high school world today. How difficult it is for students that are involved in sports but also the struggles that homosexual students that play sports have. Sometimes teachers forget what is going on outside of their classroom.

Finally on Thursday, the last breakout session that I went to was how to survive my first-three year of teaching. Here the presenter talked about a website that would help you and your students learn how to write papers and gives you as the teacher a chance to teach your students how to revise papers. We discussed a website call paperrater.com which helped students figure out how to revise their papers to get a better grade. Although, not a perfect website, the presenters did say that she has had a lot of success with it.

Thursday night, we gathered at a local bar and had the chance to socialize more with the people that we had spent the day with. Here I got to know several of my classmates better than I have in the last year and a half. I finally feel like I am starting to bond with my classmates and am starting to make friends with people I've been with. It was a great night.

Friday started with a wonderful breakfast and breakout session. I spend all three Friday sessions talking about diversity and how to deal with students that challenge you for being "the white, privileged teacher". Coming from a small town with nothing but white students (seriously think we had 3 families of different cultures in the 8 years that I lived there). I never understood the idea of "gangs" or "poverty". It was not until I moved here, that this understanding became clear. Starting work with the district, I learned that most students are not white and a lot speak a different languages other than English.

Still the world seemed okay. It was not until last year that I learned just how different my world was from that of my students. I started working with students that were involved in the "gang life", students that were bad into drugs and students who had no positive role model within their life. Some of my students broke my heart, the stories that they were things that I could not have even imagined in my life. I was just a "stereotypical" white girl who worked, played sports and had more privileged than I could truly understand.

This conference made me remember that I have things that in my life and privileged that most of my students will never have. Now it is up to me to help make the lives of my students better but changing my curriculum and helping students be able to read stories about other kids like them. I cannot wait to help my students get more involved in literature by getting them to read more.

That's all for now
Ms Perret

As the first nine weeks in coming to an end...

Just as we are getting used to the routines, schedules, students and their personalities, the end of the first nine weeks happens! (Seriously though, where did the last nine weeks go?)

I guess I should fill you in on my students! "John", from one of my first post, is ACTUALLY reading! And he is actually reading more pages per week than any other student. Guess the first few days of just "pretending" to read got boring.

Alexander Supermegatramp- Magoo is still his silly ole self: singing songs he does not know all the words to and being a class clown in the making.

As for me, midterms are almost over!! YAY!! Half way through this semester and I'm starting to get excited to be at my placement school all day.

That's all for now...

Ms. Perret

Students are the joy of teaching.

Everyday, I get more and more of an appreciation from my students: today was a difficult day, learning about the loss of one of my former students. The world sat still for a minute; unsure of how I was supposed to feel or react. Going to my placement which is where this student also attended this year was more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Even though my students were not aware of what was going on within my life, I think some could tell that I wasn't 100%.

Two of my students are a little obsessed with the novel that we are currently reading: Into the Wild is a novel about a young man who basically runs away from his family and ends up in Alaska. The main character, Chris McCandless changes his name part way through the novel and goes by Alexander Supertramp. So of course, these two students were obsessed with the name: so much so that during an essay where they had to write about what they would change their name to one of them choose "Alexander Supermegatramp- Magoo". But seriously, I could not stop laughing.

This same student who I will call by his 'sir' name: Alexander Supermegatramp-Magoo. He talks about things that most people do not even know about. Also probably has the biggest dislike for Donald Trump that I have ever seen. The other day during a vocabulary assignment, they class was given the assignment to create a postcard using four of the vocabulary that they had. I have added his postcard with his permission (of course). First thing that I noticed was the date: 6 and a half months before I was even born so I was automatically interested in what was about to play out. Next I noticed that he was writing this postcard to Jodie Foster! Being a little older and understanding about Jodie Foster's stalker, John Hickley. I laughed uncontrollably. Seriously though, this 15 year old student who knows about John Hickley and his crazy love obsession with 13 year old Jodie Foster. After my mentor teacher and I laughed about how well this students used his vocabulary words and the massive amount of information that he knew. He asked if he could explain his postcard to his classmates- his classmates laughed and shrieked about how such an old man could be obsessed with a 13 year old girl. 

This is also the student who sings the first part of Smash mouth's All Star but could not sing the middle lyrics. I have now had this song stuck in my head for 4 hours!

All in all, what I have learned today and something that I have talked about within my blog post before is the idea that you cannot force your good thoughts onto your students. Some of your students will forever be students that get lost in life without a trace and some will forever be in your memories. Good things could happen to them or bad things could happen to them, you have no control of their fates but you should always treat students like they are going to rule the world. You should cherish every moment that you have with these students and you should be positive with the outlook that you have for them. Some of them do not have people in their lives that are pushing them in the right direction. Probably more the opposite, some of your students probably have a pretty crappy home life and they come to school to get away from the terrible things that are going on at home. Remember that the next time that you snap at a student or you shoot down ideas that a student has because you are looking at them in a negative life. Embrace your students to do all the good in the world and be a steady rock of support. We have the best job of them all: Molding the minds of our future.

That's all for now.
Ms. Perret




Alexander Supermegatramp-Magoo's postcard.
 

Looking Into the Wild of High School Minds (Genre Assignment)

Looking into the sea of lost faces
“I can’t”
“It’s SO boring”
“Why do we HAVE to read this”
The voices, whined and cried.

As we continue to read
A story about a lost boy:
Chris McCandless.
That once lost,
Found himself.

I ask them questions
“How?” “What?” “Why?”.
Nothing changed.
Lost, blank stares
Looking back at me.

But in just one instant, everything changed:
One hand nervously goes up,
In the far back of the room.
A quiet whisper,
“so sad”.

“To feel so lost,
And to be so alone”.
Wise words:
From such a shy soul.
Others stare, unsure of what’s going on.

“How do his PARENTS,
Who are supposed to be,
The ones to protect him!”
The words: large and loud.
Fear hidden beneath.

Head goes down,
Eyes close.
“How do they make him feel so
Terrible about who he is?
Rattles out of such a small body.

All eyes look to their desk
The once sweet, soft voice
Brings harsh, hateful words.
“Shitty parents. That’s all they are!”
Cried out.

I look back,
A tear falls down.
Everyone stares at this stranger no one knows.
“Is that how everyone feels?” I ask
Once eyes of darkness, now eyes of light.

Hands go up. Voices loud:
Whispers and answers,
“No!”
“EXACTLY!”
“Yes. Maybe. No.”

The voice once shy and quiet,
Goes back into the body without a sound.
The eyes, back into the book,
Refusing to look around.
Do they know, the change they just made?

Fellow classmates who
Just “couldn’t” read this
“Boring” book:
Jump straight back into the novel,
Searching for the answers.

One day that will change their lives,
Just as Chris McCandless’ life changed,
Forever. In just one moment.
Will they ever remember that fearful voice?
The one who changed their very perspective on “boring” material.

To you, Quiet. Shy. Soul.
I, Thank you.
For making my teaching life easier
For making a difference in your classmate’s lives
For having the courage, others did not.

Chris McCandless would be proud
Because you also changed the world.

The journey that every teacher goes through… (Online Reflection #2)

There are days, I already question if this is what I should be doing with my life and then there are days that I know that I was meant to do this. After this week, I know that a lot of teachers spend time thinking about this and every day is a choice of how to handle the given situations. This week was a very long week for most of my teacher friends with parent teacher conferences. I have been “teaching” between teaching in preschools and subbing for the last seven years of my life and it is weeks like this one that make me realize just how much I love it.

I have a student, who I will call “Mark”. I have known “Mark” for a couple of years now. He is a senior and struggling with life as a whole. "Mark" walked up to me after the bell rang and he asked me a question that I’m sure I will get a million times between now and time I retire. He asked me “Why I wanted to become a teacher?” I sat there for just a second and I smiled. I told him that that was a LONG story but I would give him a little bit of it. I wanted to share my story with you as well-

After graduating from a little high school, there was only 37 students in my graduating class, I went on to do “what was expected of me” which was going to a four-year university. After spending my entire senior year trying to figure out how to get out of my small town, I ended up getting accepted to Auburn University in Alabama, Pittsburg State University in Kansas and Kansas State University. I was set and ready to move away from all of what I thought was wrong with my life. In May, I decided to stay close to home and go to Kansas State University to pursue a degree in Secondary Education in English. Three years into my education, my professor pulled me aside and questioned if teaching was something that I really wanted to do because she was skeptical if I could actually do it with success. I was heartbroken. Everything that I ever wanted to do, I could not do anymore. I changed my major that day. I still regret that day every single day.

“Mark” stopped me at this point of the story and he said “But Ms. Perret, you are doing it now!” I smiled and told him that it took me seven years, a relocation, two career changes and almost ten years of schooling before I could get to the point that I was at.

I picked up my ENTIRE life, packed it into my car and moved to Wichita- essentially to start over with my life. After working as a preschool teacher for five years, I knew that I loved watching students learn but I could not stand people telling me “what I should be doing and how I should be doing it”. The politics of the world and what I would find out it to be something that happens in every career field. After a few years of that, I decided to go back to school and try working in the medical field which would end up being something that I just did not enjoy and the only thing that made me happy was when I was substituting. I knew that it was what I wanted to do with my life. One day, I decided to go back to school. I started in Elementary Education which I loved but was not a big fan of the amount of structure that they had to keep with. So with only three semesters left, I switched over to Secondary education. And here I am.

“Mark” just sat there for a minute staring at me. I could tell that he had questions and I thought maybe my story was not what he wanted to hear. I looked at him, laughed and told him that Adult Life really was not as fun as everyone makes it out to be. I had to make several tough choices, including moving away from my family, spending YEARS in school that I did not need to and struggled financially and emotionally.

“Mark” told me that he had not been the best person in the last few years. He struggled with personal matters and other things that he did not really want to talk about (even though I knew all about it) but he did not want to be stuck in for the rest of his life. I told him that good things in life are not handed to you and if you wanted to do something, he needed to stand his ground and do it.

“Mark” like many of my students have lives outside of school that at one point in my life would have shocked me. But after working with these students, I really just want to be able to help them out of the situation that they are in and push them into a successful life. Knowing that some of them do not want to be pushed into “my world” of good for them. But every now and again, a student makes my sympathy for them grow, “Mark” is one of those students: a good kid who wants nothing more than to get out of the situation that he is in.

The story I did not tell him was when I was in Manhattan, I was placed at a middle school for a class. I met a young student who was a horrible student: angry, down right mean and just had no care in the world. I was talking to my teacher one day after school, she was telling me about this young student and how he was originally from California: no father in the picture and mom was a drug dealer. He was placed with his sister after his mother got arrested when he was picked up for carrying drugs in his backpack at the age of 5. So no dad in the picture, mother is jail and now he was living with his sister who was in the Army, stationed on Fort Riley. One day, my teacher asked me to take this student to the office: I walked him to the office-no words spoken between us. We got to the office, I asked him to take a seat at this table. He looked at me and walked over to the table but did not sit down. Once more I asked him very nicely to “please sit down” and he looked up at me and sat down. I thanked him. He said “what are you thanking me for?” I looked at him puzzled and said “because you did what I asked of you and you could have made this a lot harder for both you and me but you did not. You did what I asked of you so I think that deserved a thank you”. He said no one has ever thanked me for anything. I giggled and said “probably because you are not very nice to most people”. He stared at the desk and said “you just don’t understand me”. I agreed with him and explained to him that I could not understand him because he would not let me in and talk to me. I had tried for weeks to get him to let me help him with assignments that we were working on. After that, the student was definitely nicer to me at least.

At the end of my time at this school, I sat down with him and told him that I was leaving and told him that I gave the teacher my email address in case he wanted to talk when I had left. His sister and I got pretty close and the teacher was also going to give my email address to her as well. In May of 2013, I got an email from him- He was graduating from high school and wanted me to go. I watched this student, who no one thought was going to make it out of middle school, walk across a stage and get his diploma. It was one of the happiest moments of my life- he was happy, his sister was happy. His sister stopped me after the graduation, she told me that he was doing well after a couple of incidences that got him into a little trouble but she told me that he was going back to California because their Mother was getting out of prison and he wanted to show her how well he was doing. I was worried about this and so was his sister but knowing the struggles that he was going through, I knew there was no talking him out of it.

Last year, I got another email from his sister. This one was not as great as the first one. After being in California for two years, the student had gotten back into a bad spot and ended up getting killed. This was something that I was never expected. She invited me to the funeral--- I had to decline to go. I’m not sure if I would have made it through that funeral.

Now I sit here and wonder what is going to happen to the rest of my student. Every day I worry about the life that they lived and I will tell students this story one day. Students are a precious gift and teachers need to figure out how to get their students to open up so they can help them. But I wonder what makes a good teacher a good teacher and how do you get student to open up without crossing lines.  

I spent a majority of the day today, looking at how to get students to open up to me. My Mentor Teacher and I have had several conversations about how we know nothing about some of our students, one in particular. So my goal for the next month, is to work on getting to know these students. I found this website: http://blog.teacherspayteachers.com/lets-give-em-something-talk-ways-get-students-discuss-books/ and it talks about a postcard discussion which I think would be great for this student. I cannot wait to see what happens with this.

Does anyone else have anything that could help me out? I would really appreciate it.  

Until next time! Ms P

Week two in the books (online reflection #1)

Hello bloggers,

*disclaimer* All student names have been changed and placed in asterisks to help with confidentiality*

So as the second week of school is coming to a stop, I started to notice little things about my class. First, my mentor teacher has the students read from a book of their choosing every class period: when they are finished, they write down the page that they stopped on in a journal that they created on the first day of school. The first day of reading, I noticed a student "John" had a very large book sitting in front of him. *John* was a student that my mentor teacher had had the previous year and had told me that he was the only student in her class to not read a single book during the school year last year.

Now this got me thinking about the reason why the student was not reading. At first, I toyed with the idea that maybe he did not know how to read- which was thrown out the window after my mentor teacher told me that he was an honors student and was extremely smart and fully capable. Well now, that just threw everything out the window for me.

Back to *John* though, on the second day of class my mentor teacher gave the students a chance to, not only go to the library and pick a book out, but also their first chance to read during the class. As I sat reading, I looked up and noticed that *John* was the only student who was just starting at his book, PAGE ONE of his book. After the fifteen minutes of reading time, my mentor teacher got the students started on another assignment. I walked up to *John*, looking at his book with wonder, and asked him what his book was book. *John* said "I don't know". I said *John* we just spent fifteen minutes reading. *John* looked up at me and with a straight face said "I hate reading". I was completely and utterly confused. Yes, I know that there are people in the world who do not like to read. But seriously, the students are allowed to pick ANY book that they want to read. He could have picked a COMIC book for all my mentor teacher or I cared!

A little later, I walked up to *John* and I asked him if maybe he would like to go back to the library and find a book that he might find more interesting. He said "Nope, at least this book I can carry around with me all year". *slaps forehead really hard* SERIOUSLY?! I always knew that this day was going to come: the day I would have a student that did not want to do the easiest assignment of the year. But now I want to take *John* in as my special project: how do I get this young man to, at least, tolerate reading?

Oh my little project sent me on a research journey that lead me to Elena Aguilar. She wrote an article: Ten Ways to Cultivate a Love of Reading in Students (though some of these are not activities that I can really do). I felt like Aguilar does a great job talking about some of the simple things that you can do to encourage reading. Now I feel like my mentor teacher is going down a great path having students read every class period, it is giving the students a chance to read things that they enjoy.  But I know that *John* is going to take a little more convincing than just reading every day.

Well that is all for today! I'll update you on *John* next time. Wish me luck!

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/cultivating-love-reading-students-elena-aguilar

Week one complete!

Hello all! I am pleased to inform everyone that my placement is going very well. I spent the last 2 classes with honors student and we spent this time getting to know each other and learning more about the types of books that we like to read. My mentor teacher and I have goals of getting students to read more and getting the book count up for the year. We also spent a good chunk of time planning part of a unit that we are going to start next week. I have also started planning my unit this week.  Although I started to struggle  with the difference between regular sophomores and honors sophomores  my mentor teacher definitely helped me  put a path  to what is appropriate for regular students vs. The other students.  After spending some time working with the students you can definitely tell that some of them are  way above what an average  sophomore would be in this District . My mentor teacher also helped me  with the understanding that  all students  will do things in their own way . My mentor teacher also gave me ideas for learning more about my students in an educational aspect. On the first day of class we learned about the different things that our students like to do and what they were excited about when coming back to school. That is all for today! I hope everybody has a great day!