Feb 2

Today was the first official day of a new semester for “B” days. In Freshman English, I got a great introduction to certain instruction and classroom management skills.  The class, which is studying and reading through Julius Caesar, spent the first part of class taking a vocabulary quiz, and the majority of the class was spent watching Caesar’s murder and Brutus and Antony’s speeches in the Marlon Brando movie. The classroom management skills that were demonstrated in the class were plainly laid out in the class – no talking was allowed. The first offense led to a warning, the second led to being moved, and the third would get you sent out of the classroom. In addition to the rules, Natalie clearly stated the expectations of the class – the movie is not just a time-filler. The class had to pay attention to what the characters were saying. The fact that the students had already read this part of the play aloud really gave them a chance to focus on the language. Between the murder and the funeral orations, Natalie asked the class about what they thought about Caesar’s stabbing and the portrayal of the scene. I might have gone a step further and paused the movie for a longer discussion. 

Feb 1

Today was the beginning of a new month. It was interesting to see exactly how the transition between months works. One thing that I noticed was that some of the disciplinary systems are reset between months, such as “pass abuse.” My mentor seems focused on treating this as a true clean slate. I’ve heard some teachers talk in the halls, joking around with “frequent offenders” about how long it’ll be until they’re back on “pass abuse.”

I think the joking around, although probably not very harmful, definitely does project teachers’ expectations onto the students.  Even if it doesn’t directly push students to misbehave, I can’t see it having no effect on students’ behavior. Is it better to joke in such a way or to not joke at all? 

January 31st

Today was the first day back from the in-service day. The students seemed more refreshed than usual by the three-day weekend – the difference in energy between a three-day weekend and a two-day weekend really is clear for the students. There is a complex that this is a symptom of – the “school isn’t cool” complex. With a good number of exceptions, there is a sort of self-defeating mindset that affects many of the students, causing smart kids, who have the knowledge and skills to demonstrate their understanding, to make little or no effort. I think it’s probably an oversimplification to say that they consider “smart” to be “uncool,” and therefore dumb themselves down, but it’s also not entirely untrue.

The class makeup of the elective, “Borrowing the Bard,” is very interesting. This five-student class is a mixture of very quiet students whom I’m having trouble reading, and outgoing, outspoken, and energetic students, who incidentally all have theater backgrounds. I’m excited to see exactly what happens in this class – the curriculum is interesting and varied, but so far the reading is a bit thick. Also, in general, it seems this class is going to assign more reading than the students are used to. However, they all signed up for it instead of a study hall, so they must be interested in the topic.