Took the Basic Skills / General Knowledge Exam here in Home State today, a key requirement for certification. You may recall from an earlier post (June 11th, to be exact) that individuals with a combined math and verbal ACT score of 42 or higher may be exempted from this exam back in the other state, but it's required here regardless of one's ACT or SAT score.
You may also recall that on June 9th I discussed the fact I'd taken several practice exams for this Basic Skills test, and was concerned about how difficult / tricky the questions were. On all three practice exams, I barely managed to pass the English Skills part of the test, because the mistakes they hid in sentences were (in my opinion) very difficult to find unless you are paying very close attention. Given my cavalier attitude toward testing, I could easily see myself failing because I wasn't giving each question due thought and deliberation.
So today, I took the actual test, and I swear it's a completely, fundamentally, totally different entity. It was perhaps the most ridiculously easy test ever. Find the error: Mary and he gave John and me the baseball us had asked for. OK, I can see how people might bite on the "he" or "me," but even if a marginally intelligent person with mediocre grammar skills was about to mark (a) or (b), here comes (c) -- "the baseball US had asked for." I used approximately 1 1/2 hours of my allotted 4 1/2, and it only took that long because I felt bad about finishing the sections so quickly, and went back and did all the questions a second time. The only question I had difficulty with was in the "basic skills math" section, because I don't recall what a scalene triangle is. Fortunately, the combination of answer options provided made the correct answer obvious, so I didn't fret too long over my weak vocabulary.
So that's done, almost. One of the sections requires writing an essay of "no more than 8000 words." My essay was, oh, 700 words, tops. Still, I have to believe it will pass, particularly given the unbelievably low standards for passing the other sections. Now I have to make it through Day 1 of school, which is seeming more and more daunting by the moment. I've spent the week cleaning my room and trying to figure out all the different stuff I am supposed to know, or need to know, or would be helpful to know... it's incredible. More on that later.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
First Day Reflections
Interesting day. No provision for newbies, so I wandered into the main office area around 7:45, 15 minutes before the program was to start, and eventually asked the principal's secretary where I should go when it became apparent everyone else was renewing acquaintances and into their own agendas. Into the media center (didn't they used to be called libraries?), where about 40 tables were set up. Wandered around for a few minutes and finally sat at a table where there was a familiar face -- Melanie, from the classroom management course I took last week. Turns out the entire table was new-to-the-school people (4 of us), but 2 of them had prior teaching experience elsewhere.
The principal is also new to the school, and gave a pretty good introductory talk... took us through the data on how the school ranked (not pretty, at all), and was inspirational about improving it. A couple of off-hand remarks I heard through the rest of the day indicated that the change he represents is a welcome one; apparently, the administration at MHS had gotten very complacent and resigned.
The rest of the day was less helpful. I peppered the principal's secretary with a hundred questions -- I didn't have any idea who else to ask regarding things like where I go to get my ID, how to get my computer, how to get stuff carted out of my classroom (which has apparently been the repository of all spare file cabinets since 1963), who I should talk to about getting more student desks (there are 32 in the room and I have 2 classes of 35 students), how I can get a new whiteboard, etc.
It occurred to me this evening as I was contemplating the day, that I will walk into the classroom on Monday having spent a total of 1 day in the last 35 years in a high school classroom, and, if it weren't for this career-changers program, without any guidance as to what to do or how to do it. The thought that I might have conceivably been hired in the city where my younger kids live and walked into that classroom completely cold is a frightening one. Not that a week's worth of advance instruction is a lot, but at least it gives me a framework. It also makes me wonder, and I mean SERIOUSLY wonder, how the vast majority of teachers make it through their first few days. I've been around a fairly long time, and experienced a lot of new jobs, new places, etc., which gives me some grounding, at least to the extent that I know what I don't know, and am not embarrassed to ask someone about it. Maybe the Education majors out there learn it all from their student teaching or other places, but I feel as if there is virtually no support at all for first-year teachers within the school itself, and I wouldn't want to be in that position if this were my first job out of college. Maybe there will be more support coming through the rest of the week, but I don't see it on the schedule.
The principal is also new to the school, and gave a pretty good introductory talk... took us through the data on how the school ranked (not pretty, at all), and was inspirational about improving it. A couple of off-hand remarks I heard through the rest of the day indicated that the change he represents is a welcome one; apparently, the administration at MHS had gotten very complacent and resigned.
The rest of the day was less helpful. I peppered the principal's secretary with a hundred questions -- I didn't have any idea who else to ask regarding things like where I go to get my ID, how to get my computer, how to get stuff carted out of my classroom (which has apparently been the repository of all spare file cabinets since 1963), who I should talk to about getting more student desks (there are 32 in the room and I have 2 classes of 35 students), how I can get a new whiteboard, etc.It occurred to me this evening as I was contemplating the day, that I will walk into the classroom on Monday having spent a total of 1 day in the last 35 years in a high school classroom, and, if it weren't for this career-changers program, without any guidance as to what to do or how to do it. The thought that I might have conceivably been hired in the city where my younger kids live and walked into that classroom completely cold is a frightening one. Not that a week's worth of advance instruction is a lot, but at least it gives me a framework. It also makes me wonder, and I mean SERIOUSLY wonder, how the vast majority of teachers make it through their first few days. I've been around a fairly long time, and experienced a lot of new jobs, new places, etc., which gives me some grounding, at least to the extent that I know what I don't know, and am not embarrassed to ask someone about it. Maybe the Education majors out there learn it all from their student teaching or other places, but I feel as if there is virtually no support at all for first-year teachers within the school itself, and I wouldn't want to be in that position if this were my first job out of college. Maybe there will be more support coming through the rest of the week, but I don't see it on the schedule.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Classroom Management Training
I'm mainly writing this post for myself, so that if I ever get asked to evaluate various parts of my certification training, I'll have written it down somewhere while it was still fresh. So feel free to soldier on, dear reader, but recognize that it's mainly a disquisition on how not to run a seminar on classroom management.
It was a two-day seminar, with different instructors each day (although why this was the case is unclear). Those of us in the career-changers program received the text for this course several months ago, but I hadn't spent much time reading it. The first-day instructor at one point clearly indicated the slide presentation she was giving was hers (noting she had forgotten to change the date on the first slide, which was September 17, 2007), but later in the day seemed to imply that she had nothing to do with writing the presentation.
One thing is clear, however -- she didn't proofread it. In addition to the "September 17, 2007" issue, there were several other typos, including at least one sentence that was gibberish.
Part of good classroom management is arranging the physical space to accomodate the type of interaction you're expecting to have with the students. (I know this because I was actually listening during the seminar.) So, for example, if you expect lots of small group work, cluster the desks together. Or, if you want mostly discussion among the entire class, try to arrange the desks in a large semi-circle or U. Et cetera. Of course, if you can't move the desks around, you live with what you have. But if you can, it's a good management tool. The first day was nothing but lecture and full-class discussion, but the easily-movable desks were arranged in clusters.
Another key element of good classroom management is varying the teaching style -- some lecture, some small group work, some large group discussion, etc. This is important even in 60- or 90-minute classes, so if you have the kids all day like in elementary school or a seminar, it's absolutely critical. So the entire first day was nothing but lecture and large group discussion.
Another part of classroom management is keeping the group on-topic. This is admittedly harder to do when you're talking with adults who want to tell stories that are semi-related, but we spent 30 minutes in a discussion of whether it was against the county's policy to grade homework (it is), and given that, what you could do to ensure homework gets done anyway. Great discussion in many respects, but far afield from how to manage the classroom. Moreover, since the county employee couldn't answer the question and didn't really know what standard practice among other teachers is, it was just a bunch of people with no information trying to guess at a right answer. Highly unproductive and, as noted, off-topic.
Final point on the first day's lecturer: she used imprecise language in instances where precision was very, very important. Specifically, several times, she responded to a question about whether some action was OK to do in the classroom with "Oh, no. You can't do that." Further probing revealed that about one-third the time, this meant "Doing that would be a mistake because it will cause more trouble than it's worth," one-third of the time it was "You can try that, but in my opinion, students will not respond the way you want them to," and one-third the time it meant "That's illegal." OK, maybe we shouldn't do any of those things, but there's a pretty big difference between "that's probably not going to work" and "that will cost you your job."
Second-day lecturer was dramatically better, with much more interaction, much more varied activities and a better slide presentation. Also, the desks were in the same place, but it made sense on the second day because we did lots of small group work.
It was a two-day seminar, with different instructors each day (although why this was the case is unclear). Those of us in the career-changers program received the text for this course several months ago, but I hadn't spent much time reading it. The first-day instructor at one point clearly indicated the slide presentation she was giving was hers (noting she had forgotten to change the date on the first slide, which was September 17, 2007), but later in the day seemed to imply that she had nothing to do with writing the presentation.
One thing is clear, however -- she didn't proofread it. In addition to the "September 17, 2007" issue, there were several other typos, including at least one sentence that was gibberish.
Part of good classroom management is arranging the physical space to accomodate the type of interaction you're expecting to have with the students. (I know this because I was actually listening during the seminar.) So, for example, if you expect lots of small group work, cluster the desks together. Or, if you want mostly discussion among the entire class, try to arrange the desks in a large semi-circle or U. Et cetera. Of course, if you can't move the desks around, you live with what you have. But if you can, it's a good management tool. The first day was nothing but lecture and full-class discussion, but the easily-movable desks were arranged in clusters.
Another key element of good classroom management is varying the teaching style -- some lecture, some small group work, some large group discussion, etc. This is important even in 60- or 90-minute classes, so if you have the kids all day like in elementary school or a seminar, it's absolutely critical. So the entire first day was nothing but lecture and large group discussion.
Another part of classroom management is keeping the group on-topic. This is admittedly harder to do when you're talking with adults who want to tell stories that are semi-related, but we spent 30 minutes in a discussion of whether it was against the county's policy to grade homework (it is), and given that, what you could do to ensure homework gets done anyway. Great discussion in many respects, but far afield from how to manage the classroom. Moreover, since the county employee couldn't answer the question and didn't really know what standard practice among other teachers is, it was just a bunch of people with no information trying to guess at a right answer. Highly unproductive and, as noted, off-topic.
Final point on the first day's lecturer: she used imprecise language in instances where precision was very, very important. Specifically, several times, she responded to a question about whether some action was OK to do in the classroom with "Oh, no. You can't do that." Further probing revealed that about one-third the time, this meant "Doing that would be a mistake because it will cause more trouble than it's worth," one-third of the time it was "You can try that, but in my opinion, students will not respond the way you want them to," and one-third the time it meant "That's illegal." OK, maybe we shouldn't do any of those things, but there's a pretty big difference between "that's probably not going to work" and "that will cost you your job."
Second-day lecturer was dramatically better, with much more interaction, much more varied activities and a better slide presentation. Also, the desks were in the same place, but it made sense on the second day because we did lots of small group work.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Pent Up Demand
I sent a note to everybody I had an email address for letting them know I'd taken a math teaching job at MHS here in Home State, and within 24 hours over half of them had written back congratulating me and saying very nice things about how great it is I'll be teaching and how good they think I'll be at it.
It's always nice to be loved, of course, but the thing that struck me was how noble people consider me for doing this -- like becoming a firefighter or Mother Teresa or something. From my perspective, there's a very selfish aspect to my becoming a teacher, particularly with respect to providing for the kids. I've pretty much said to them "hey, you're on your own financially. Good luck and god speed. Oh, and if you have a few extra bucks, I could use some graph paper for my Geometry class."
I also got the sense that a lot of the people who were just finding out about the career change were somewhat wistful, as in "Gee, I wish I could afford to chuck this crappy job and go teach high school." In any case, it will certainly be an adventure. And what more can you want out of life?
It's always nice to be loved, of course, but the thing that struck me was how noble people consider me for doing this -- like becoming a firefighter or Mother Teresa or something. From my perspective, there's a very selfish aspect to my becoming a teacher, particularly with respect to providing for the kids. I've pretty much said to them "hey, you're on your own financially. Good luck and god speed. Oh, and if you have a few extra bucks, I could use some graph paper for my Geometry class."
I also got the sense that a lot of the people who were just finding out about the career change were somewhat wistful, as in "Gee, I wish I could afford to chuck this crappy job and go teach high school." In any case, it will certainly be an adventure. And what more can you want out of life?
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Crossing T's
I signed my "Home County Public Schools New Hire Commitment Form" today for the job at MHS, which prohibits me from accepting an offer from another school in Home County and requires MHS to hire me, providing I do all the paperwork required and the background check doesn't turn up anything untoward.
[In national news today, a math teacher in Duval County, Florida (Jacksonville) was suspended for 15 days because of an incident in which he choked a student, which another student filmed with a cell phone. Commentary on the incident seems to be evenly split between those expressing outrage the teacher wasn't fired and those saying the choking was probably justified because the kids are out of control. I have no further comment.]
Looks like I'll be teaching Algebra I, Geometry and Honors Geometry. Which means I won't get bored going over the same subject matter 5 or 6 different times in different sections of the same course, but also means that my lesson plan preparation time will be about 2.5 times what it would be for one course. On top of certification coursework and whatever consulting / tutoring / other teaching I end up doing to try to make ends meet, it should make for a full day. But hey, I get summers off.
I also found an apartment, which I love. It's about $100 more per month than I planned to spend, and $200 more than I had hoped, but it's a beautiful place. It's also in a neighborhood that I really, really love. I can walk to the grocery store, the Starbucks, the library and several restaurants and bars. The only bad news is that it's not available until October 1, so I'll be living out of a suitcase for another couple of months. On the whole, though, yesterday was a pretty good day.
[In national news today, a math teacher in Duval County, Florida (Jacksonville) was suspended for 15 days because of an incident in which he choked a student, which another student filmed with a cell phone. Commentary on the incident seems to be evenly split between those expressing outrage the teacher wasn't fired and those saying the choking was probably justified because the kids are out of control. I have no further comment.]
Looks like I'll be teaching Algebra I, Geometry and Honors Geometry. Which means I won't get bored going over the same subject matter 5 or 6 different times in different sections of the same course, but also means that my lesson plan preparation time will be about 2.5 times what it would be for one course. On top of certification coursework and whatever consulting / tutoring / other teaching I end up doing to try to make ends meet, it should make for a full day. But hey, I get summers off.
I also found an apartment, which I love. It's about $100 more per month than I planned to spend, and $200 more than I had hoped, but it's a beautiful place. It's also in a neighborhood that I really, really love. I can walk to the grocery store, the Starbucks, the library and several restaurants and bars. The only bad news is that it's not available until October 1, so I'll be living out of a suitcase for another couple of months. On the whole, though, yesterday was a pretty good day.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Jobbed Up
Today was the first day of certification classes, which was interesting. More on that at some point. During lunch today, however, the big news happened...
I got an offer from the high school I interviewed with on Monday. So that's very good. I also asked some of the people running the certification program about the school (which will henceforth be referred to as My High School, or MHS) and the reviews were uniformly non-negative. Which is really very good, given that all the options for participants in the career-changers program are "high risk" or "high needs" schools, virtually all of which get some pretty negative reviews. So MHS is in the front row of the second tier, to use a Bob Uecker line. Also, I really liked both the principal and assistant principal, so that's good. I haven't accepted the offer yet, but it's only a matter of time.
I'm pretty excited. Now, it's on to the really annoying stuff, like finding an apartment that is simultaneously in my price range and not so disgusting I can't live with myself living there.
I got an offer from the high school I interviewed with on Monday. So that's very good. I also asked some of the people running the certification program about the school (which will henceforth be referred to as My High School, or MHS) and the reviews were uniformly non-negative. Which is really very good, given that all the options for participants in the career-changers program are "high risk" or "high needs" schools, virtually all of which get some pretty negative reviews. So MHS is in the front row of the second tier, to use a Bob Uecker line. Also, I really liked both the principal and assistant principal, so that's good. I haven't accepted the offer yet, but it's only a matter of time.
I'm pretty excited. Now, it's on to the really annoying stuff, like finding an apartment that is simultaneously in my price range and not so disgusting I can't live with myself living there.
Today
Feels like the first day of school. (I start certification classes today.) I have my lunch box, my backpack and my brand new pad of paper. All I'm missing is a handful of sharpened no. 2 pencils.
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