There and Back Again

So this past weekend I ventured down to Jackson to do some house searching with myself, my two soon-to-be roomates, three great Second Years, and our hostess's roomate. Everyone was great. Our two hostesses in Yazoo City were so hospitable... they took it upon themselves to show us around Jackson and house search with us. But I think more than the hospitality and the generosity, the comfortability and connection with this group of people really astounded me. I knew my future roomates pretty well (or as well as you can know someone in about 3 weeks) and had casually conversed with our 2nd year hostess and the other two 2nd years, but I had never even met our other "member." The connection with these people was instantaneous, which is amazing considering the different backgrounds and the number of people present. This is something that I've also found, for the most part, among other members of MTC. And I can't really figure out why I get along so well with these people. I think part of it is the fact that I'm no longer in the minority. TDuring the past four years of my undergraduate, I was, for the most part, the more liberal, progressive, or at least levelheaded of most of the groups I was associated with. I realize that may come off as arrogant, but that's whay I tried to throw in the "levelheaded" clause, because even when I was more conservative on a particular issue, I felt like I rarely become visibly upset or excited about my particular viewpoint, as was/is the case with the majority of people down there that believe strongly in something. And I think the most attractive quality of many of my colleagues is their ability to rationally and calmly state their perspective. That's what I experienced this weekend. Ideas, perceptions, tastes that I had but often times could never put into words evolved into extended, well-thought conversations, of course filled with various remarks that unceasingly cracked me up. That's another huge issue... The ability to laugh, discuss, criticize, remark, or make-fun -- now matter what the subject or tone-- was always interesting. I feel like I could have talked with these people nonstop. I think part of our idealism contributes to our complementary personalities -- even when we come from all parts of the South (and the oddball fromt he Northeast). I can't thank everyone enough for their help this weekend, but even more so, I owe everyone more gratitude for the experience and the community.

Groupies

So I did some group work the other day in my class, and I
think the kids kind of realized that it was one of those
things that was thrown together at the last minute. I
hadn't remembered that I was supposed to incorporate it into
my lesson and so basically took an idea that was supposed to
be individual work and added a few students together. They
were a lot more excited about the fact that they could get
up and converse with one another than the assignment I gave
them. And although all of them did actually complete it, I
found the biggest problem was finding a way to keep everyone
accountable for his/her own work. I had everyone in groups
of four, and made sure there was an official recorder and an
official reader, but that left two other students more or
less free to not participate (which they fully took
advantage of). Even when I went over and tried to encourage
discussion or participation, a received a lot of blank
stares. I thought about doing some sort of group member
evaluation, but it seemed too complicated and there was no
assurance that the kids would grade honestly. I think from
now on I'm only going to be able to do group work if I can
make sure everyone knows they're responsible and held
accountable for their participation in the group.

In Between the Cracks

So I'm posting about one of the questioning strategies that I used the other day in class. I tried the "Muddiest Part of the Lecture." I didn't exactly do it the way it's listed, because I kind of forgot that I was using a particular strategy, but I think the idea is still basically the same. I gave the kids two options for a "Do-Now" prompt that was on the board when they came in. I had gone over conjunctions (coordinating and subordinating) and clauses (independent and dependent) the day before. Admittedly, I did not teach well the previous lesson. I kind of threw a lot of information at them and then gave them examples, hoping that they would just "pick it up," not really considering how methodical I needed to be in my instruction. So for their "Do-Now" instructions, I told the kids they could either write down a question about yesterday's lesson that they were unclear about; or, if they thought they were clear about everything, then they could prove it by writing a complete sentence with a dependent clause first, collowed by an independent clause. I told them to make sure they use the correct punctuation. After explaining what I wanted to almost every individual, I collected their responses. A majority of the kids wrote something to the effect of "I understand everything we went over, but I can't think of how to write it in a sentence" or "I know how to do it, I just forgot how to use it in a sentence." I actually had to chuckle and give the kids credit for finidng a way to do neither of what I asked them. I basically offered them choice A ro B and several of them chose choice C. Now what is much more discouraging is that perhaps 6 of the 20 or so kids actually did what I asked them (wrote a question or correctly composed the sentence). The rest of the class did what I just told you about (Choice C), or tried to compose the sentence, believing they were doing it correctly, and completely screwed it up. Most of what I got were simply independent clauses with incorrect punctuation. The good thing, which I think is the entire purpose of this strategy, was that I got to see what we needed to spend more work on. I am somewhat torn between feeling disappointed and unsurprised. I know several of the second years will tell me that I should get used to this, and that things will probably get much worse, but I also don't want to lower my expectatiosn to the point where I'm not longer expecting the kids to learn. I think this was a good technique for pointing out by shortcomings as a teacher, but I still believe that the kids should have at least been able to identify an independent clause. Well, I guess I'll find out how much they really learned when the test comes around.

An Alternative Approach

I read Jess Wysopal's paper on the Montessori School. I was initially interested for several reasons: 1) because I actually attended a Montessori school when I was younger 2) because I'm fascinated by alternative methods for learning and 3) because it's so vastly different from what they teach us in MTC.
Basically, Montessori schools tailor the entire classroom environment to its students. So, for an elementary Montessori school, the students have smaller chairs, smaller desks, and all kinds of learning resources in the form of books, puzzles, art supplies, etc. The idea is that by creating the perfect learning environment and leaving the adults out of the mix for the most part, the kids will want to learn on their own and will teach themselves how to read or write. They value and respect a student’s own desires and thus allow him or her to choose what, when, and for how long he or she learns. (Sorry if I’m not completely accurate in this synopsis.)
Although I was extremely young when I attended a Montessori school, I do remember that I was best friends with a kid that was 3 years older than I was (coincidentally, he turned out to be the older brother of one of my best friends in middle school). According to my parents, I used to follow him around all the time. I remember that everything he said was funny. I mention this only because of the focus on peer teaching that the Montessori schools stress, and because it is one of the few strategies that applies to what I have been taught so far in MTC. I guess it’s virtually impossible for me to say whether it was an innate curiosity, open-minded parents, the Montessori school, strong teachers, or some “X” factor that encouraged my desire for independent learning, but nevertheless, it’s present.
This strategy is particularly interesting in contrast with the rigid rules and schedules that MTC emphasizes. Both MTC and Montessori’s strategies target “at risk” kids, so I wonder how two vastly different philosophies developed with the same purpose. Although I completely trust what the administrators, professors, and experienced teachers in MTC say, the liberal in me wonders if a child were exposed to the Montessori technique his or her entire life, would the results be as successful as what MTC produces? Obviously, one of the major differences is that MTC teachers go into a school that is not set up to incorporate the Montessori strategies; however, something about the “prison” or “warzone” metaphor that I’ve heard teachers (and, ashamedly, myself) mention seems off. I realize that with some kids, you have to take that strategy. And at first, you should probably take it with all your kids. But the attraction to me comes in developing personal relationships, which you can’t do if you’re the “warden” or the “enemy commander.” I’m not trying to suggest that anyone here is inciting me to treat the kids this way, but with all the rules, procedures, and schedules (coupled with my mistrust of authority), it seems like it would take some of the spontaneity, creativity, or individual desire out of learning.
I know that when I go in the first day I’m going to do my best to appear the “hard-ass” that I’m most certainly not. But because I’m so afraid of losing respect, I fear I’ll have to approach things that way until the kids gain my trust (or I gain theirs, I’m not sure) and realize that one party is not going to take advantage of the other.
Montessori techniques seem more “natural” to me. It’s rather sad that because of the inherent desire to trust, help, and nurture which has constantly been abused, we as teachers have to remove the freedom and choice that accompanies learning, at least in our schools.

So good so far..

I'll have to admit, I was not looking forward to this week. Yea, I wanted to meet my classmates and the administrators that we'd be dealing with for the next two years, but I did not want to go through all the introductory meetings about the history and the classes. I guess I tend to be a little "immediate gratification" oriented and I wanted to jump right in and make my own mistakes and learn from them... but I also realize that this isn't practical or prudent, and they do the things they do for a reason.
All that being said, I've been pleasantly surprised. First of all, my classmates are great. The cynicism and whining that I've come to expect from the typical college student doesn't exist among them. Granted, it's only been 4 days, but everyone is so eager and enthusiastic, so willing to learn and take in the instruction. Second, the 2nd years and refreshing. It's encouraging to see how excited they are to share their knowledge or (I'll stick with the battlefront analogy) just gain some reinforcments. Although I could tell some of them were exhausted, it seemed like our presence in some way enegrized them, and that in turn energizes me.
Overall, I guess the one thing that I overlooked coming in is the camaraderie that's inevitably going to develop. I've known these people for less than a week but I'm already telling stories and cracking jokes with them like we've been longterm friends. I think a lot of my success will depend on the relationships and bonds I forge during these two months.