4/22

I can’t believe the semester is this close to ending, it seems like it all went by in a flash. I am really going to miss the students at Reagan. I appreciate all of the laughter that resulted in my experience with them this semester. They made me feel at home in this very different world, and I wish there was time to continue and develop those little relationships. I hope they got something out of my time there because they gave me a lot to work with (good and difficult), and I don’t think I would have had that experience somewhere else. I also liked working with Ms. Derbyshire. She is very open and honest about her experience and that allowed us to learn from each other and collaborate in ways I wasn’t able to experience last semester.

I think I now I have pretty good idea of what I’d want the school year to look like, and I’m enjoying putting the pieces together. My ideas are completely influenced by my work and interactions with the students at Reagan and I have been putting a lot of thought in trying to figure out what would work for them.

            One of my main concerns, and something I regret not talking to them about is that a lot of the Spanish-speaking students are not comfortable reading ad writing in English. I think a lot of them are ashamed of this so I definitely want to do a unit where there is an exploration of language and talk about how power influences how we see language.

I also think they need to be allowed to write in Spanish, whether it’s 100% Spanish or code switching because their confidence as writers in English starts from there. Alex and I read this great book by Dangling Fu (Writing Between Languages) and it gave me a lot of needed insight on helping students who speak other languages develop their writing skills. I learned that the fact that they are more comfortable speaking and writing in another language is not something I should be “concerned” about, but something we should celebrate as promising and helpful not a hindrance or limiting.

            I taught 4 lessons last week where I got the chance to see for myself how teacher led and student led discussions feel and I’m very glad I did it. Although, they weren’t perfect, it was great practice, and I’m grateful for the experience. My video probably will not do a good job demonstrating what took place, but I learned quite a bit from those lessons. I asked one of the classes how they felt about “Socratic seminars” and student led discussions and initially most said they preferred teacher led discussions. They expressed that they were very shy and not comfortable doing it all on their own. After a while, they began to reveal that teacher led discussions prevent them from expressing themselves, but they need more practice before being able to participate in a discussion that is student led. One of their suggestions is that the teacher gives them a specific side to argue for or against. They feel like this is something they are comfortable with and can be used as a starting point.

            I really enjoyed this conversation, and I completely agree with them. A student led discussion is something you have to build up to. By 9^th and 10^th grade the students are so accustomed to teachers leading every aspect of the classroom, that giving them a little bit of freedom can make them feel uncomfortable and unprepared.

            Initially, I wanted to start the year off with a unit that relied a lot on student led discussions, but now I don’t think that is the best idea, and I’m thankful that they were able to show me that.