Monday, November 22, 2010

At the end of the 1st quarter of my 3rd year.....

I've got this blog bookmarked on my safari browser bar under tcc. I so rarely use that link that it has been shoved off to the side. I think as I grow increasingly busy, I don't have as much time to blog. That and I can tell that I am reaching a point of validation as a teacher in a way that makes posting on this blog less therapeutic and borderline imposing or even pretentious. Then I remember that I am probably anonymous to anyone reading this, and based on the stats email I get every month, people still look at this blog. They are probably searching BCTR Blog or something.

In the time since I last wrote, I've worked with MSDE on world history curriculum, helped to write the new BCPSS modern world history curriculum, and worked with BCTR in a training capacity. I look forward to interviewing for selection events in the next month or so. I find that experience to be exhilarating and inspiring to see so many committed to urban education.

I pulled a classic throw some loose plan together before I left home for school, only to start reviewing my plan around 11pm and realize that it is bullocks, and will never hold water tomorrow. Granted we are nearing the break, but have found that one of my keys to happiness as a teacher is to never settle for crappy lessons unless it is absolutely unavoidable. I've had a few this year, and of course they suck, and students know they suck. But in my 2 completed years I've accumulated enough good ideas that I don't have to do the brunt work every night. That is because I've been fortunate to teach the same subjects this year as I did last.

So I'm teaching about the Protestant Reformation tomorrow, and thought I would use some random reading and graphic organizer that related the PR to the age of exploration, only to find that it was a wholly inadequate worksheet for 1/2 of my PR coverage. So, as usual, I decided to go to multiple sources that will be given out to groups, and then summarized to create a more complete picture by the end of 47 minutes. I will throw the final bits into docs tomorrow morning and print them off. Next year I will put the finishing touches on them. Actually what happens is my 1st and 2nd period are the dry run, and then I tweak it for 4th, and finish off the completed product for 7th and 8th.

One thing I have been doing differently this year is publishing my plans online using a program called Gradebook. I use a mac, but it is also on PC. I have a website, well 2 websites, but can publish both of my class calendars on my website for parents and students to see. This has been good for me to stay on top of my plans, and I am positive that I will be so glad next year to have my year outlined like that. My organization is so horribly negligent that I usually just go to my last years folder to see the various stuff I taught. I don't always have a fleshed out lesson plan neatly placed on top of the previous day's plan for me to go back to. Not until now, at least.

In my 3rd year, I am developing strong opinions about the purpose of my courses. In teaching freshman modern world history, I am far more concerned with teaching students strong reading, writing, analysis, and study skills than with them memorizing long lists of content. Students will forget much of the content that I teach them, but the patterns that we reinforce with each unit, and the way that I force them to ask and answer clear questions that come directly from standards or test questions will stick with them.

In a lot of ways, some of my personal quirks that make teaching so difficult for me have also, in some part, helped me reach a level of success. I feel constantly underperforming; horribly insufficient in my inexperience and lack of expertise on history. I could teach a lesson and then write a 10 page paper about all of the things I could do better. In a sense this is a blessing and a curse, as I am constantly reflecting on how to do things better, but never quite feel the sense of completion or achievement that I might allow from time to time. I have students say they like my class, or that I explain things well, but I am still trying to get a clear sense of what the kind of progress I want to see out of my students looks like and how to make that happen for each and every student.