Austin Mann

It is coming to a close as they say, and I am getting ready to move on and graduate. Looking back on my past two years I realize it has really been a great experience. A song has been playing in my head nonstop these last few weeks titled The Last Goodbye by Billy Boyd.

 

 

I saw the light fade from the sky.

On the wind I held a sigh,

As the snowflakes cover

my fellow brothers

I will say this last goodbye.

 

Under hill and over tree

 

To new form lands

 

I'll follow thee.

 

I will say this last goodbye

 

If I had to write myself a letter telling me about what was to come it would be as follows:

            Dear Austin,

You are embarking on an adventure the likes of which you could never comprehend until you have reached the end. Buckle up as you are going to have some long sleepless nights ahead of you. Frustration will become an emotion you feel all too often. Anger and doubt will creep upon you while you lie in bed wondering if you can pull through. Students will test your mettle and you will have to find out just how far you can go before you lose your composure in front of your students. You will be brought to tears. This is not the end however. You will make friends that will become a family to you. Yes you will cry, but some of those tears may in condolences for a student who lost their mother, or tears of joy at helping a student come back from the brink and graduate. Yes you will doubt yourself and your teaching at times, but help will come from the most unlikely of places. Students will make you laugh. You will tell stories and jokes. You will break up fights and couples kissing in the hallways, but you come through with dignity and poise. You will watch friends get married and see other become engaged. You will experience joy and heartache at the same time. Hold fast though your students need you to be strong. Yes, you will get angry when you have to repeat the instructions for the fifth time even though the instructions are on the board, the handout, and not to mention the class calendar the students so conveniently have in their folder that you keep so that they won’t lose it. Your technology will fail multiple times. Don’t sweat it, actually do sweat it, you do great under pressure. Back up your KPTP when that time comes around. You’ll save yourself a vacation to Disney World. Remember that you are not alone and that you have your class family and professors that want to help you succeed in your journey. Graduation is your goal. There will be times where you want to surrender and there will be times where it’ll feel like a piece of cake, but in the end you will push yourself farther than you ever thought possible.

Good luck Austin, I know you’ll do it! I did.

Austin Mann

Austin Mann

Hello everyone! Well here we are in April already! I hope everyone is doing well with their semesters. I just finished my KPTP! It was sixty-nine pages, and let me tell you it is the longest hardest project I have ever worked on. I made it through though, and if I can make it through that, I can make it through anything! I also have taken both the PRAXIS and the PL. Since completing the KPTP, I have taken up much more responsibility in my classroom. I’m taking on more classes and am having a big issues with keeping up with my grading and my assignments. Now when I say assignments, what I mean is assignment sheets for my students. Whenever I ask for students to turn in an assignment they have trouble rustling through their papers and always ask me what it looks like or what kind of assignment was.

To make my organization in my assignments for my students easier, I had to ask some veteran teachers at my placement for help on how I can make my assignments easier to find for students. The number one thing I learned was to put something in the corner of my assignments so when I call for them to turn it in, they just have to find the picture I ask for. Originally, I was told to put little colored stickers on the corners of my assignments so that I could just say the color, but like Bomer says in his book “Lesson plans should allow all students to participate despite any disabilities they have.” (Bomer 97) I realized that several of my students are color blind and that they might not be able to see the colors. To remedy this, I decided to place well known Disney characters in the corners. This also saves me time and money on stickers and placing them in the corners. I just have to copy and paste the pictures to get them on the corner.

Using this strategy has helped organization in my class. I have been able to just have to ask for the character and the students are able to pull it out quickly and turn it in. Instead of spending ten minutes getting the assignment in, I get the assignments in about a minute and have more time for my lessons.

Well that’s all for now! Good luck everyone! Finish strong!

 

Staying Strong this Spring!

Austin Mann

Blog Post 2

Dr. Mason

2/21/2015

                  Hello everyone! I am continuing my illustrious student teaching this semester, and it is going fantastically. However, I am very busy with all that I have to do between lesson planning, studying for my PRAXIS, and working on my KPTP, I am feeling like Tom Hanks’s character in Cast Away when he is lost at sea on his make shift raft weeping uncontrollably over losing his volleyball friend Wilson. Graduation is just around the corner and I have a list longer than Santa’s naughty list of items that I need accomplish before that fateful (and glorious) day arrives.       Now that multiple classes have been added to my busy schedule, I am having had a hard and very difficult time trying to find time for my lesson planning. It has been a hard and anguishing time over the last several weeks. I have been having trouble trying to figure out how to get students involved with writing and class discussion specifically, as many of my students are seniors and already in the mindset of summer vacation. I have had an especially hard time with my seniors. I cannot tell if it’s senioritis or if they are just too unwilling to write and participate.

            When it comes to discussions in class, my CT really loves to get the students involved with the activity of the day. I however am not my CT, and I am not pronounced with my discussion leading as she is. My seniors are currently reading The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and I am having a really hard time getting them to discuss it. They seem almost afraid of what others might say, but always after class they come up to me individually and ask me questions on why the author doesn’t just leave her family, or take another course of action. I am preparing to do a lesson that Smagorinsky suggests in his book Teaching English by Design. In his book Smagorinsky writes about how we as educators can put an author on trial. Smagorisky writes “Students who do not like an author’s or narrator’s deployment of characters may put the author or narrator on trial, prosecuting them for crimes against the characters.” (Smagorisky 34)

 I feel like this would be a great way to mix things up and get the students involved in the book like I know they are. Since the book we are reading isn’t fiction and is the account of the author I would more than likely place the parents on trial for their misdeeds to their children. I am reading other ideas that Smagorinsky has to offer, but my question to you wonderful people is this. What would you do to get your Seniors who have come down with senioritis to do to get them active in the lessons again? Would you follow Smagorinsky’s ideas or do you have one of your own? I hope you all have a wonderful week! Keep doing what you do best and smile!  

Work Cited

Smagorinsky, Peter. Teaching English by Design: How to Create and Carry out Instructional Units. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008. Print.

 

Take a Breath

 

It’s going to get worse.

Your perfect student is going to act out and disobey

and your worst student is going to push your patience to the very brink.

Someone will tweet something hurtful about your teaching style

 and plaster it all over the school.

Your favorite shirt will get a coffee stain during passing period.

Your students will fall asleep

after lunch in your class during your lesson that you worked hours on, with drool

spilling

out of their chewing gum infested mouth. Or your para

will remember that she has a dentist appointment

and leave you in the middle of the hour with seven special ed. Students who are acting up.

The other perfect student-

The one that texts a little too often- will forget all of their

work

And will freak out and cry and require you to calm him down putting you behind in your lesson.

No matter how many hours you prepare,

or how many tiny details you brace yourself for, you’ll lose track of time, the date, and the school assembly day.

If your troubled student comes in smelling of booze one day

You’ll come in to see one of your students putting cigarettes into his pocket

and is trying to sell it to other students because he never had the chance to see himself as something more

and probably won’t graduate.

There’s a Christian belief of a man who came into this world to teach and love.

When it came time for him to pay the ultimate price for his students

He did so without hesitation. But he was innocent in his

trial.

And he looks on at his students dividing up his clothes and casting lots for them.

At this point he notices a bowl full of vinegar and water.

He asks the guards crucifying him for a drink

They give him a sponge soaked in the mixture.

So here’s the view, the sun will set, some of your students will fail, you’ll get in a wreck, you won’y make enough money. You’ll lose loved ones.

Oh how sweet a teacher’s love is

so close to your heart.

 

Based on the poem Relax by Ellen Bass

Genre Reflection 2 My Thoughts as a Student

Genre Reflection 2

My Thoughts When I Was A Freshman in English

What time is it? 2:10!

 How can I have only been siting here for ten minutes?

Oh here comes Mr. Irby…

That comb over isn’t fooling anyone.

Sigh this class is so boring…

All he does is drone on and on and on and on and on

Oh what are we learning about today?

Shakespeare? Snore.

WHO CARES ABOUT A DUDE FROM HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO?

Ohhhhh…. Megan Graber is looking at me…. YES!!! She is beautiful! Her smile… am I blushing?

Those green eyes are like sparkling emeralds.

Her blond hair looks like silk, I wonder if it’s soft like suede? Maybe silk?

She just laughed! It’s like sweet music….

I think I love her….….Sigh

Uhoh Mr. Irby is looking at me.

“Austin, what do you think?”

Uh-oh I wasn’t paying attention…

Lord, I promise to pay attention from here on out if you please don’t let me make a fool of myself.”

“Austin! What do you think Shakespeare is trying to convey here in this character?”

Oh crap, Megan is looking at me…SHE’S SMILING!!! I gotta be smooth with my answer.  I need to impress her! Was this why she was laughing?

“Well Mr. Irby, is he trying to convey that this character is a man?”

“No Mr. Mann, Juliet is most certainly not a man…”

Well everyone’s laughing….

I’m just gong to hide forever, Megan will never talk to me now!

OK TIME HAD TO HAVE PASSED…

2:11!!!!! This just isn’t fair.

 

                This is a dialogue of my thoughts from when I was a student in high school. Freshman year to be exact. This was Mr. Irby’s Freshman English class, and he was one of my most boring teachers, or so I thought. I later had Mr. Irby again for Senior English, but this time I paid attention, and I realized, I turned myself off from learning because I didn’t give the subject matter a chance. It’s important to get students interested in the material, but it is not always easy. Those that did pay attention to Mr. Irby’s Freshman English class said I was crazy for thinking it was boring, because he made the material fun and fresh. That’s why this reflection means so much to me. I don’t want my students to tune me out just because they don’t like the subject matter.

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are staying warm during this fall, however it feels more like winter. This semester has been a hard one, but I am staying afloat. No matter what though, I am always looking forward to teaching. It is my breath of fresh air, and getting to be with my students and work with them has been a delight for me this semester. I have truly been blessed with a great class that follows the rules and never speaks out of turn. They are open to trying new things, so I have gotten the opportunity to try some new stuff, and see what sort of things I want to use and don’t want to use in my classroom. There is this one student that I am having trouble with. She shows up late every day and just sits and texts or sleeps the entire class. Whenever I call on her for an answer she just says “Yeah right” and then goes back to texting. At my placement, the school policy states I cannot take the phone away from her, and that I can only take points away.

 

I have been trying to reach her, but she keeps fighting me. At the beginning of the semester she was one of my best students, but now she is distant and cold. I’m guessing it has to do something with her home life, but I cannot be for certain. Like I said I have been able to experiment more with this class, so this semester I have been trying to use conversations and discussions to help bring this student back into the class. According to Bomer “We live in an age where work gets done through collaboration.” (Bomer 135) This statement is absolutely correct. In today’s society, we have never been more connected. We must collaborate if we want to survive in the modern world. Right now I’m collaborating with you reading this post!

 

I read what Bomer had to say on trying to get the students to respond. One of the ideas that he presents really caught my eye. “Pull on the differences to draw them out. Good conversation usually involves negotiating things that members of the group see differently.” (Bomer 139) I used this idea to my advantage with this student of mine. We were having a debate on whether or not alcohol should be banned like it was during prohibition. (We are reading on the Harlem Renaissance) She is one of those students who is very opinionated, especially when it comes to alcohol as I’m assuming she is fan because she has worn a Jack Daniels hoody to class several times. She got really into the debate, and she was way against prohibition, and got into a great debate with several of my students who were siding with the logic of prohibition.

 

Now Bomer’s text isn’t meant to help with problem students. It’s supposed to help me be a better teacher. So my question is, what are some ways you guys would deal with this student? How would you get her to get off her phone and pay attention? Remember I can’t take her phone. I can only take her participation points for the day, and she isn’t breaking any classroom rules. Thanks in advance for your input, and I hope you all are having a blessed year!

 

Till next time, have a great Thanksgiving, and a wonderful holiday season everyone!

Mr. Mann

KATE and My Thoughts on it

 

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having productive semesters thus far, and that you had a very marry Halloween! I was very busy this last week. I was able to attended the KATE conference (Kansas Association for Teachers of English), and I have to tell you all that I had an absolute blast. Not only did I learn a lot, I got to reflect with other educators on all the stresses and joy that the profession of teaching brings. The conference took place on the 30^th and 31^st. The guest speaker was Taylor Mali, and honestly, from what I’ve seen and heard from the man, I was surprised how humble and honest he was. He showed his passion for teaching and the English language, while also making everyone laugh. On a side note, he is fantastic at photobombing.

It was a great conference and I learned a lot of useful ideas for lessons. There was a panel called “Icebreakers, Teambuilding, and Brain Breaks: Using Collaborative Play to Faster Positive Learning.” This panel especially intrigued me, as I was not only lectured on the various types classroom activities, but was also able to participate in them as well! As soon as the day was over, I went home as hastily as I could to alter the lesson plan I had set for later this week, and changed it as I could not offer to miss this opportunity to experiment with one of the ideas that were presented!

There were so many panels, but only so much time. I had to plan which ones I could benefit the most from carefully. Many times there were two panels that I wanted to attend, and it would come down to the last minute for me to decide. One of the better panels was the Making it Stick: Communicating Ideas and Information to Students. To me, this was the most beneficial, as it was taught by two veteran teachers, who both made the point that as educators we want to get fifty points across in a lesson, but ultimately, children won’t remember. That is why we need to get one point across clearly.

Overall this conference was fantastic, I learned so much, and am eager to try some of the things I have learned in my own classroom. It was also nice getting to talk with other teachers who know the ropes and understand the idea of what sort of emotions I’m feeling towards student teaching next semester. Also, getting to meet and hear Taylor Moli speak was a wonderful experience and it made me more passionate about the career I’m pursuing.

That’s all for now! More to come soon!