Very much NOT like me. Not to mention I am not even close to being as knowledgeable or experienced as her, I am definitely NOT an eloquent speaker.
My MT usually runs her class like a boss, literally like a boss. Well, I should be more kind with her. She is like a responsible and humane boss.
She has good relationships with most of her students, and she genuinely cares about their education. She takes her job as a teacher very proudly and also very responsibly. However, she might talk a little more than how much I would have if I were the teacher. She usually dominates her class period just as the students come in her class and start working on their opener exercises instructed on the board. She would close the door behind her as she counts how many are in the class; she would indicate the actual start of the class by quieting them down and checking if they are all working on their work at the moment. after 2-3 minutes later, she would, then, go over the work together as a class; she would transition to the main lesson of the day by either introducing an interesting video related to the lesson or simply explaining what the concepts/lessons are like verbally to the class; then, she would delve more deeply into the lesson for about 20-25 minutes, leaving some time for the students to work on another assignment on their own till the end of the class.
I can describe this teaching style in one word. Scaffolding.
As a better example, she was preparing the class for the writing assessment that the students were to take the next day. The first thing she did was giving out outlines of "how to write a 5 paragraph essay." She explicitly directed the class to write out their thesis statement, hook, and three supporting ideas which they were going to use in their three body paragraphs. She also emphasized the importance of going over these outlines and preparing for the writing assessment by saying that the people who are going to grade their papers in high school are going to simply look at their hook, thesis, and main ideas then decide what their grade is going to be.
I think my MT stresses the classic form of writing, "training students to write in a way that is consistent with the scoring standard on the state writing assessment" for the obvious reason written above. The opening exercise that she does in the beginning of every class everyday--the grammar exercise in which students identify sentence structures and parts of speech--may help students improve their writing, but in a single level, meaning the students are only taught how to write each sentence in the correct grammar but are not taught how to combine those sentences to make a unique and good piece of writing.
All the teachers who have had good writing experiences or know what the true writing is about probably know that the standardized "five paragraph essay" format does not guarantee a good writing piece, rather a dull, useless writing piece that will only work in high school. It's quite unfortunate for both teachers and students because the state standards do not allow them the ultimate freedom to express their thoughts in any forms or shapes in writing.
As the common core standards hopefully begin to realize that writing is a creative act, the 21st students will hopefully gain more freedom in writing and expressing their thoughts. There already exist creative writing conventions today; however, they are yet accepted in middle and high schools. I hope to be able to guide my students to express their thoughts in any way they want as long as it is creative, artful, and personal; I hope to be that one teacher who helps at least one student in my class learn how to write for oneself.
sources:
http://azharreflections.blogspot.com/2011/05/worst-experience-of-my-learning-life.html
http://www.scriptmag.com/features/script-tip-are-you-writing-for-yourself
Jin-
ReplyDeleteAlthough you don't have the same teaching philosophy or teaching style as your MT it seems like you are learning a lot about the kind of teacher you want to be through your observations. I hope that as the semester continues and you begin to collaborate more with your MT, she will realize that you can bring a unique, creative perspective into the classroom. I definitely agree that the Common Core Standards can invite teachers to standardize writing instruction, but I think that you can develop creative assignments that work within the standards. For example, my MT has students creating advertising campaigns based on their literature circle novels. This assignment fulfills the standard that requires students to learn rhetorical techniques and persuasion, but in a fun, creative way!
Jin, I understand where you're coming from. My mentor teacher is a boss in every way in the classroom. He is not tolerant of noise, even if that noise could be productive. It seems as though he spends a lot of his time lecturing and doing classroom behavioral management. While he is lecturing and the students are quiet, it is sometimes difficult for me to squeeze my way into the classroom lesson. It can be intimidating at times, especially because my teaching philosophy or style is a lot more open to organized chaos.
ReplyDeleteMy advice is similar to Callie's. I'm hoping you and I both can find a way to more effectively collaborate with our mentor teachers in a way that is constructive for our learning experience, their learning experience, and the student's learning experience. The standards are more end goals it seems, which gives a little more room to be creative in how a teacher goes about teaching those standards. In that way, it's good that we are able to provide information to the students in a variety of different ways.
Either way, good luck with your field experience, and hopefully you'll be able to feel more at home among your MT and students!