The Importance of Planning

To put it nicely, I have been put with a dyad teacher that doesn’t necessarily believe in ‘planning’. This has been a little bit of a struggle for my dyad partner and myself simply because as students aspiring to become teachers, it would be nice to see how things are properly done. However, I have learned the importance of planning through seeing the lack of it. I realize that as the years roll by teachers become less and less elaborate with their lesson plans but without a plan and a goal in mind, the classroom seems to lose purpose and structure. I have watched this classroom spend an entire period working on other homework because my teacher had nothing planned. I have watched dance parties happen, nonstop computer games and a 2 hour gossip session occur all due to the lack of planning. I understand that planning takes time, that teachers aren’t paid great and that ‘winging’ it can be very tempting. However, we are dealing with students lives here and to not have a higher purpose for what you are doing is very disturbing to me.

I think that this was a very valuable lesson for me to learn. Just like any other job, teaching can become tedious and teachers can become burned out. I can only hope that by seeing the effects of a teacher who does not plan it will help me when I get to the point where I might not want to plan either. Teachers must have a greater purpose for what they’re doing. These kids are smart and they catch on to a class that has no structure. I think the biggest lesson I have learned through this experience is that no matter what happens you cannot go into a day of teaching like you would a waitressing job. I hope I can always remember why I teach and never lose sight of my greater purpose.

Falling Behind

In observing a first grade classroom I have seen kids who were obviously at different levels in their reading, writing or picture drawing skills. However, unless we’re talking about a severe learning disability, the kids in this first grade classroom were all relatively on the same level. On the other hand, observing a 7^th grade social studies classroom at Hamilton middle school has given me a rude awakening. There are kids in this classroom that cannot read a picture book let alone a 7^th grade level reading book. Unfortunately, the assignment is always for the whole class to read this 7^th grade level book and then to write a book review on it. I have watched kids bring long division math homework problems in to the classroom and yet when I ask them to add two double digit numbers together they are at a complete loss. Because of these things, kids are failing, being perceived as ‘lazy’ or as ‘having a bad attitude’ and then essentially are given up on... once again. This has been such a disheartening experience for me and makes me wonder what happens to these kids throughout school. Who was the first teacher to let them slip through the cracks? Was it a domino effect from there? And most importantly, how do we, as educators let this happen?

Although there is no part of me that could ever see myself teaching middle school I must admit that it was the best experience I could have ever experienced. I can only hope that I will always remember how bad my heart hurts every time I come home from school and realize that there are kids out there who are simply receiving zero help because everyone around them has given up on them. My goal as a teacher is to never let a kid slip through the cracks.

Originality

From the time we are young students we are told to use proper grammar, conventions, paragraph formation, etc. We are told to put a certain amount of sentences in each paragraph, we are told the topics to write about, the voice to write in and many times we will turn in a paper and get it back with negative feedback about our own personal ideas. Although, I do think that some of this is beneficial, I think that sometimes it can teach us, as writers, that there is a "right" and a "wrong" way to write. However, Lamott writes that, "All the good stories are out there waiting to be told in a fresh, wild way" (Lamott, p. 181). He speaks about how we all offer our own perspectives and ideas and originality and in order to write a good story we need to use these things.

I think this was a very good lesson to learn as a teacher because I think it is important to teach your students to be creative, to express their ideas in an original way and to not simply re-write stories they have already heard. I think it is important as a teacher to create a safe environment where the students are not scared to make mistakes, scared to write in their own way or scared to turn in something that is not exactly the way a writing book tells them to do so.

I also want to acknowledge that I do think it is important for students to know the basic principles of writing. Nobody wants to read a story that they can't understand or follow. However, I think too often we can hinder students creativity by shooting down ideas that don't follow the 'norm'. Lamott understands the importance of a "fresh" story and I think this is an idea that gets passed over a lot in schools.

It may take a whole book....

The passage from Lamott that I want to talk about today is on page 103. He states that, "There may be a flickering moment of insight in a one-liner, in a sound bite, but everyday meat-and-potato truth is beyond our ability to capture in a few words. Your piece is the truth, not just one shining epigrammatic moment in it."
I thought that this quote was very powerful because so many stories have pages beyond pages of mindless writing and then attempt to capture the hearts of their audience in one sentence at the very end. Lamott explains that it takes a whole book sometimes to get that moral message across to the reader and a good story will have the depth and consistency that will allow the reader to feel what he is trying to convey.
I think that this message is really important for new writers because I have noticed in the middle school that I have been in the last few months that a lot of the students will write 3 pages about a toy wagon and end the story with, "and the lesson I learned is to always be nice to others". Although, the story was very interesting and the moral very nice, there is no connection between the two to make it very powerful at all. I think Lamott has something when he says, "The core, ethical concepts in which you most passionately believe are the language in which you are writing". Your message should come from your whole piece, not the ending sentences.