Reflection pt 2

The classes that were the most interesting to me were the regular English classes; they followed the same lesson plans and were consecutive throughout the day, but they were so different from each other. The classes I observed mainly focused on preparing for the 10th Grade Writing Test. The teacher said at his school this course has really turned into a prep course for next year. “It's hard because when we get them they are such babies and unless they have to take a literacy course we only have 2 semesters to make them proficient writers. I do not think that is possible without cutting corners.” He is a very traditional teacher in that he thinks in order to improve your reading and writing you have to do a lot of reading and writing. However, despite mainly teaching out the test books provided he let the students make their own meaning in what they read and tried to group texts together into “mini-units.” The classes were so different due to the student involvement: one class had active participation, in the other if 4 people talked in a class it was a major achievement. It was good to see that even in a teaching environment that really enforces route drill and skill there are ways to open it up and really get the kids thinking about what they are doing. The best moment for me came during small group discussion, after writing the required essay. I was sitting in on one group and they had identified the main surface conflict of the text- the effects of war. The story the had read ended abruptly and instead of rehashing the basic essay they had written previously the teacher had them get together and decide what came next. The group I was sitting talked about PTSD and the issues some soldiers might have when they came home; then they hit the big stuff. In the end of the story the protagonist kills his brother, in the group I was sitting in really got into the psychological effects that this would have on the main character and between them created a story that I would have read. The teacher shared after the class that activities like that were very much outside his comfort zone, but that he tried to do as many as possible because he knows how much the students enjoy and learn from them. I think that that was one of my biggest take aways, do be afraid to do things that scare you and not to be afraid of failure. The students appreciate any deviance from the norm and will really support you if you try to meet them half way.