82 hours

82 hours later and I am DONE with my observations for this semester. What have I learned?

Firstly, I learned that no matter how much education a teacher may have this does not mean they will teach well.

Secondly, I observed and I learned that the students just don't care. It is not totally their fault. The teachers convey the lessons in such a way where it is hard to make them care.

Thirdly, to be a teacher really means to be a babysitter with some tests thrown in to add a little spice.

What am I going to do because of this knowledge?

Firstly, I am going to take what I learn in my education classes and chuck it out the window. Your either going to be a good teacher or your going to suck.

Secondly, I am going to some how put a spell (maybe take up vudo) and make the students want to care about English. Some how, some way I am going to have to engage my students . . . by opening the door to WANTING and NEEDING to learn.

Thirdly, I am not a babysitter--I will not get paid enough to be a baby sitter. I am a Professional Educator. Thereofor, if a student does not feel that they need to do anything in my class...then they will kindly be excused.

Teaching is an amazingly crazy profession.

LET YOU’R GOOD BE BETTER AND YOUR BETTER BE YOUR BEST

I cannot wait to observe in the lower grades

I have been reflecting on my observations: Seeing the students totally not care what is going on—

And I wonder….are the younger kids the same? I am really frustrated because I am not sure if I want to teach any more. Even though I don’t doubt my ability to reach the students… I am scared that they will be totally apathetic to what I want to teach.

I am in love with English. If it were a man I would marry it. During my observations though, it doesn’t seem like the other teachers are “in love.” There is one teacher who appears to really enjoy what he is teaching, but he doesn’t follow through. What I mean by not following through is he fails to reach the students.

I am not okay with FAILURE. Maybe that is the first thing I have to learn—failure.

I am the type of person who feels that anything is possible if one just tries hard enough. Key word “try.”

Trying was not something I noticed to many students doing.

Why have we failed as instructors?

Religion in schools?

I was in the faulty room when all of a sudden a teacher storms in. This particular teacher happens to teach English right next door to the room that I observe in. She comes in swearing and obviously upset. Her friend (the teacher I am observing) asks her what is wrong. She says:

“My students are doing speeches and the other day one of the girls spoke on how she has been ‘saved.’”

This is an English 11 Honors class, and the teacher figured that the students would be able to handle controversial topics.

Well, she was wrong.

After (and I assume during the girls speech) two boys were really upset. One boy believes in God, the other one couldn’t understand why/how someone could believe in God. The debate got really heated and the teacher felt that she “handled” the situation well. She explained how everyone was in titled to their own opinion and that the point of the speeches was to inform different view points—not enforce a view point.

Well, the student’s decided to take matters into their own hands and got into a fight in the hall way later on.

What made the teacher upset was the fact that one of the parents emailed her, condemning her for allowing the girl to speak about a “religious topic.” In reaction, the teacher decided to cancel all the student presentations and give them the “unit from hell.”

I tried to give her my advice on the situation, but she didn’t want to hear it. She couldn’t separate the parents’ reaction from her students. Instead of sitting down with the parent, she took her frustration out on the students.

I would have handled the situation very differently. Not only was the outcome of the one speech unfortunate for the teacher, it was also unfortunate for the students. They worked hard and long on their speeches and never got to present them. I would have discussed what happened with the class and asked them to write a paper on why it is important to respect opinions and diversity. I would then give them historical situations where opinions and differences were not respected. I would NOT have cancelled the other speeches.

I don’t understand why people get so uptight about religion. I am a very religious person and I do not take offense to other view points. I recognize them as such: just differences of opinion.