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!