Teacher Journals: Drew

10.28.02

I attended an open house about this time last year at Harvard's Graduate School of Education that encouraged me to reflect upon my career and why I was drawn to an urban-focused teacher education program. This was something that I thought about for quite some time and was happy to discuss with others in our breakout session. My experiences in the Army, working with students at Boston's Museum of Science, and teaching in an urban charter school inspired in me a passion for working with urban youth. As a Platoon Leader in the Army, I had a Platoon Sergeant, or right-hand-man, who told me a countless number of stories about growing up in a city. He usually ended his stories with: "Sir, you just can't understand." His stories would normally include a graphic or horrific event, and an explanation about how he managed to "get outta there," earning his bachelor's degree in English. We compared high school experiences and agreed that we had very different teachers, classmates, and social experiences. The one thing that we had in common and that I could understand was that we both had a teacher who set us on what he called "the straight and narrow" path toward success. There are few professions that wield the power and responsibilities of teaching and the mandate to set every student on "the straight and narrow" path toward success. Every day a teacher affects the lives of hundreds of young and impressionable students. Every day a teacher has the ability to change a student's life, and every day they do.

So why would I choose urban teaching? I am a "people" person. I value relationships, humor, and integrity in character. I feel most comfortable in an urban school environment because students share similar values and welcome the opportunity to learn and to build relationships with their teachers. I enjoy challenges, and the urban school environment provides many daily challenges that range from a student's personal issues to the dynamic dilemmas of school reform. Few other schools in our country can bring together forty different cultures that share the same four square miles of turf and then help them reach common goals (just ask any member of the United Nations). To me, teaching in an urban school is like painting with a full spectrum of colors on my palette and providing students with means by which they can produce a final masterpiece as a work of their own. I am a teacher, a father, a friend, a learner, a disciplinarian, a safety net, a counselor, a nurse, a coach, and a role model for all of my students-an urban school teacher.

I'm now easing into teaching math in a Boston Public School. We spent the first few months of our transition into the Boston Public Schools (BPS) learning about our school's culture. We took the time to meet various teachers, shadow the headmaster, discuss key issues with the union representative, and learn about the health systems in the school. Rather than showing up on Day One and teaching algebra lessons, we took a step back and learned about how our school functions and what makes its graduates prepared to excel in their lives after high school. We thought about the school's history and how that history has influenced its values and culture.

The most interesting experiences to date for me have been our daily discussions with the math department head. He has been in the BPS for over thirty years and takes the time to contrast the rich history of math at the BPS with the issues that shape current reforms. He is a mentor in the true sense in that he realizes we have much to add as beginning teachers with varied backgrounds, and he provides us with the tools and means to transition into the classroom. Our meetings with him have provided us with a necessary practical forum for thinking about how to translate the theories we discuss in our Harvard courses into effective practice.

In the next few weeks, we will start teaching a few classes with our mentor teachers. I enter this stage of our student teaching with great confidence in the relationships that we've built with our mentors. I'm no longer concerned that I will "mess up a lesson." Rather, I'm working on my own understanding of the material and how I will communicate it in a way that it matters to my students and sticks in their minds. My mentor teacher told me to focus on my own understanding at first because, if the ideas are not clear in my head, then there is no way to communicate them clearly to my students.

Working with thirty students is not as tough as it could be when you have a mentor teacher there whose goal is to make you better at what you do at every stage.

12.27.02

The end of November marked the beginning of our increased responsibilities in the classroom. The first order of business was to learn what my Mentor Teachers are going to require of me in their classrooms. (I split my time between two Mentors. This could be confusing for some, but I am really enjoying learning about two different styles of teaching.) We discussed the "ramp," which is Harvard's method of easing us into the role of classroom teacher, and determined that the best way for me to begin in the classroom would be to mix observation with some assistant teaching. Thus, during the first few days I simply continued to observe the classes of both my Mentor Teachers. I found myself paying particular attention to the ways the teachers managed their classrooms and more specifically to how and how often they dealt with side conversations and the occasional discipline problems in their classrooms. As an experienced leader, I know that every leadership style is different--and classroom leadership is no exception. My two Mentor Teachers deal with classroom management in extremely different ways. One Mentor uses the occasional look of displeasure and moments of silence to focus the students on the task at hand. The other Mentor prefers to address students directly and immediately upon a lapse in behavior. Both methods seem to work and reinforce to me that consistency and fairness are the two most important attributes to good classroom management. Also, while observing, I began assisting small groups of students and working one-on-one with students during class time. That work has provided me with a great way to get to know the students better and a way for them to get to know this person who is soon-to-be their primary teacher!

I've found out that I will be taking over a 10th grade geometry class and a 12th grade pre-calculus class. This is exciting to me because I taught Algebra 1 and 2 last year and now I can learn how to teach new subjects with the support of mentors who have taught these subjects for over 30 years. I remember enjoying pre-calculus the most in my high school years. We actually learned what the "sine, cosine, and tangent" buttons did on our scientific calculators. In my high school, we graphed everything by hand, but my Mentors and I have been using graphing calculators extensively and incorporate them into almost every lesson. As the semester progresses, I will develop the necessary fluency on graphing calculators so that I can incorporate technology into my lessons next year with greater ease and confidence.

One of the more enlightening experiences I've had so far at my school site has been in my geometry class. Students these days learn geometry much differently than I learned it. Rather than memorizing theorems and doing lists of proofs, students now discover the theorems through conjecture and experimentation. For example, students learn about squares, rectangles, and parallelograms by folding paper, measuring lines, drawing houses, and constructing shapes. This approach is much more engaging for the students, and they appear to be understanding geometry much more deeply than I did in high school. But the approach still feels a bit unorthodox to me since I learned the definitions and theorems before I really knew anything about the shapes. In fact, I struggled a bit with some of the problems in the students' books and worried that the students would question my math ability. Luckily, I have been able to use my confusion as a teaching point – helping students to understand how to approach a problem when they don't quite understand it at first. That approach has worked for a few lessons, but I realize how important my preparation time is going to be for each class. I won't be using that time just to plan! I have a lot to learn during that time, too.

It's now what they call around here: mid-winter break (even though it's only December). The students and I are on a much-needed (and deserved) vacation. When we return, I will begin teaching a few lessons every week "solo" while under the supervision of my Mentors. Both of my Mentors envision the process of my taking over their classrooms as a process of "crawl, walk, run." I will develop lesson plans and teach the lessons under their close supervision at first, but then I will work to a point where they will simply spot check my classes. It's exciting to face taking on a continually increasing role of responsibility in the classroom and in my students' education. And I'm more than ready for it! (Vacations do work wonders!)

2.21.03

Student teaching is tough. Even though I taught last year it feels as if I never stood in front of students in my life. I have learned so much through my classes and observations this year that I am interning with a new outlook on education.

I spend most of my time thinking about how I can help the students acquire and understand knowledge and apply it to their every day lives, whereas last year I focused on how I could present information in hopes that students would "automatically" understand it on their own. I think back to how I learned math - mostly by the teacher's presenting information, doing a bunch of example problems, and then moving us on. While I gained quite a bit of knowledge, I'm not sure how well I understood what I was "learning." I now develop projects that enable students to discover the math (and therefore understand it better) rather than simply present them with equations for rote memorization. It is this "discovery" method of teaching (versus what my mentor refers to as "stand and deliver" mathematics) that has created quite a dilemma in my mind. The dilemma goes something like this: How can I take every topic we study in math and have the students 1) understand something significant about it, 2) discover its use and 3) apply it to their everyday lives -- within the necessary time constraints?

What I'm learning is I need to work hard to find a happy medium between teaching math techniques and formulas and having the students discover how to apply them to their lives. I need to carefully choose which topics and techniques I will present for coverage (breadth) and which I will present for depth (deeper understanding). I do try to minimize stand-and-deliver teaching because concepts don't seem to stick in the students' heads as well as when they discover/understand the math on their own. But I also realize that sometimes stand-and-deliver is the most expedient way to get through the breadth of material that we are supposed to teach.

We recently covered exponential functions in my pre-calculus class. This is a daunting subject to many students because exponents are something that we don't normally use in our every day calculations. I found a good mix of the theory and application of this material by using a credit card advertisement that I received in the mail. I found that most of my students did not know how credit card companies make money off of their expenditures. In fact, most of the students felt that credit cards existed only as a means to "put off" paying for things as long as possible. I created a project where the students purchased $1,500.00 worth of goods over the holiday season and they calculated how much their debt would be on a 19% interest credit card over different time periods. The students were amazed to see why it is important to pay off their credit card bills as quickly as possible. One of the students even took their work home to show their parents why they shouldn't charge any more money to their credit cards. Exponential functions allowed students to model and see a picture of the credit card debt's rapid interest growth. What started as $1500.00 debt quickly doubled and tripled without any new purchases. Exponential functions showed students that credit card interest rates really do hurt!

It is an activity like modeling credit card interest that demonstrates the importance of understanding math. I feel that the students are better prepared to enter their post high school responsibilities when armed with a deeper understanding of math and its applications. I also feel a sense of accomplishment every time I hear a student say "wow," like I'm the magician filling them in on the secrets of life's tricks.

We are now on our February break. It is relaxing and perfect timing for a bit of reflection on our first foray into teaching on our own. My mentor teachers still maintain a presence in the classroom and help continuously, but the students view me as their teacher. They ask me questions. I sign their hall passes, and I grade their tests. It is a great feeling to know that soon I will do this full time. But until then, I'll enjoy the constant feedback and help from my mentor teachers.

5.30.03

It was tough to leave my Boston Public School. My seniors are graduating, my tenth graders completed their Massachusetts standardized test, and I completed my classes at Harvard. I am finally able to sit back and think about what I accomplished this year, and I find that I accomplished a lot in a small period of time. I developed a better understanding of the high-level issues in education. I took a stance on those issues and crafted my definition of the purpose of education. I learned many of the basic skills in teaching mathematics from my “Methods of Teaching Math” class and from Mentor Teachers in my Boston Public School. Most importantly, I helped a few students in understanding math and constructing plans for their futures.

I have always viewed the role of a teacher as both the facilitator and expert in content knowledge and as a mentor and role model for students. It wasn't until this semester that I actually felt the strain of the two roles colliding, particularly with my senior pre-calculus class. I taught a class of 23 students of varied cultural backgrounds and levels of math achievement. I began teaching them full time in their third term. Most students did not need to pass the pre-calculus class to graduate -- and they made that clear from day 1! I was torn between the need to help them to learn the many topics in pre-calculus and the reality that this would be the last math class that many of them would ever take. This dilemma came to life in one student who I will call “Angie.”

Angie is a beautifully kind student who struggles with math. She passed the MCAS, Massachusetts' high stakes test, on her last try and barely passed her math graduation requirements at our Boston Public School. I never understood how she could fail tests and still smile, saying, “Math just isn't my thing,” until I saw what her thing was. I was lucky enough to watch the school's talent show. In front of the entire school, Angie recited poetry that she had written. She recited the poetry with the eloquence of a well-trained stage actress and the confidence of a seasoned performer. It was the only point in the talent show where everyone was quiet. The other acts involved rap music, step dancing, and karate demonstrations; but her recital stole the show. She is an amazing poet and performer.

While Angie's true talent lies in literature and the performing arts, I struggled to make math of equal importance to her. I made great efforts daily to coax her into after-school tutoring and extra projects to improve her grade, but she refused. I grew frustrated at her resistance to embracing math until one day it hit me. In addition to teaching math, my role was to mentor students. As a mentor, it was my duty to help her follow her ambitions. I never gave up on trying to help her improve in math, but I learned to make the examples I used in class more relevant to her through her interests. I used the names of famous poets in a few word problems and even tried to rhyme a problem involving sines and cosines. That didn't go over too well with the rest of the class, but Angie recognized my efforts and improved her efforts in class.

I have a great sense of accomplishment and an even greater desire to enter the classroom of a Boston Public School next year. I understand my role as a math teacher and as a mentor. I understand that I am a role model and am lucky to have the opportunity to share my experiences with my students. I graduate next week eager to prepare for my first “licensed” year of teaching. See you in school!