I think that the teachers are so resistant to what we are doing because they feel threatened. This is a whole new process that they are being introduced to and they don’t understand just yet as to why we are doing what we are doing. I think they feel threatened because there is somebody there every day observing us student teachers. They probably think that they are being watched and evaluated as well. I just hope that by the end of this student teaching placement, I can at least spark an interest in these cooperating teachers to see that this process does work. I don’t know if this will be possible because I think they are so rooted in their traditional views and ways of teaching, but anything is possible. I know that I can pray for them to help them see that what they are doing just isn’t working for the kids.
Why can’t the other teachers do this with us? I know that they are busy and it’s nice to have student teachers to take over the class, but they are supposed to be in there with us. I think if they were it would alleviate some of the problems with the resistance from them. If they were to see what is happening and maybe take a more engaging role in this process, they could see that it works.
Our cooperating teachers can hate and be resistant as they want, but at the end of the day, the students are leaving with smiles on their faces. This could be a direct result of what we are trying to accomplish with them or it could just be a casual greeting response. The students are still learning something in this process. I had one student come up to me and say, “You just gave me a great idea of a game I can play with my friends at a birthday party.” They can be learning either the concepts (teamwork, trust, and communication) or they could just be learning how to do that activity, but whatever it is, at least they are learning. Here is this girl who was taught something and is now going to go back home and try it with her friends. That to me is why I am teaching what I am; so the students can apply it to other parts of their life.
The first class continued with their Tae-Bo and walk/runs. Today I started picking up my pace a little bit so the students would pick up their intensity as well. I tell the students that if they are behind me by the time we finish, they have to do an extra lap. Granted, my pace is pretty slow compared to some of the students and I try to make sure that I am not going too fast for the slowest person in the class. I wanted to provide the students with a challenge and so far it seems to be working. They did well during the video, this class always does.
As the girls were leaving the locker room and waiting for the bell, I stopped to talk to a few about P.E. for next year. One girl responded, “I am not taking P.E. next year because the rotations are boring.” I told them that I will ask them that question after I get done teaching them. “But miss, you are an awesome coach.” I would really like to know what they are basing this statement off of. Is it because I am out there doing the activities with them or did they just say that because I was asking them questions about P.E.?
As the students were leaving, my colleague and I continued to meet them at the door. I said goodbye to one of the students and called her by name. Her response was quite comical. She said, “You know my name!” She got excited over the fact that I remembered her name. I think this is one of the things that many teachers should do. We are always making an effort to great all the students at the door and when they are exiting. We are not so wrapped up in ourselves as teachers and I think that by doing this; we have gained a lot of respect from the students.
In between the first and second class, one of the cooperating teachers asked “How do you assess students? I don’t like what you are doing. If you had to give a grade right now, how would you do that?” As of right now, we can grade students on participation, but he had to right back in my face saying “You can’t just do participation.” I understand that all of P.E. can’t be based upon participation. This teacher does a lot of his assessment through skill and what he can see the students doing. Right now, we are assessing the students cognitive ability, something that can’t be seen too well unless the students are speaking. It only takes two weeks for us to find out how the students function and experience P.E. and create a safe classroom environment. I believe that we can sacrifice that time of visual assessment to better assess student learning across the board and in the future.
For the second class, we had the adapted P.E. students. I really love working with them. They can brighten any one of my sad days. We played bocce ball with them. That was a lot of fun. Sometimes I wonder if we could provide these students with a curriculum just like any other class. I know that when I was a senior in high school and helping the P.E. teacher with the adapted class that she taught, we never did the same activity two days in a row, unless it was swimming. I was just wondering if this is what P.E. teachers who are certified to teach adapted do or if they follow a set curriculum. I know we have to meet IEPs with these students and there is a lot of variety that we can provide them, but I have yet to see an adapted program in which the students followed a curriculum.
After this class was over (we only do it for 45 minutes), I gather my things and head to the desk in the gym. During this time, the other teacher has a class in there. I can’t believe how lazy she is in her teaching style. I have yet to see her give any type of instruction to the students. She is the type of teacher who says “Here’s a ball. Go play.” While the students are participating in their activity, she is typing away at her computer. Is she not concerned about safety? She does occasionally turn to watch for a little bit, but she never consistently is monitoring the kids. She also plays music for them. I understand that kids want up to date and more modern day music. However, is there no censorship for school? I know it is stuff that they listen to outside of school, but still. What have schools evolved into to allow teachers to play this type of music (there isn’t swearing, but it’s all about sex anymore)?
The girls are noticing how they are being treated compared to the guys and it is always based on what the boys want. In the last class we had, one girl said, “I don’t think it’s fair that the boys get to play football and basketball, and we have to do a more structured curriculum.” Today we talked about classroom environments and how this one differs from the guys’ class. The girls said that “other girls hold grudges for a very long time. All the guys do is throw down and then the next day they are best friends.” In regards to them being treated differently, they also said that the guys don’t get yelled at or in trouble as much as they do. It is quite obvious that the teachers are treating the students differently based upon their gender.
As well as talking about classroom environments, we also created class rules and consequences. When talking about the consequences, my cooperating teacher had to pipe in her own opinion. She said to the girls that it’s good that we are creating consequences for this class, but there are consequences that the school has already set in place. She basically nullified everything that I tried to do today and discredited me in front of the whole class. I couldn’t believe that she would have done that (actually I can).
Today with my last class, I started the students out with Add-On Tag. After giving them instructions, I thought this was going to be a disaster. The students don’t look like they are too interested in what they are about to do or they just don’t understand. However, it turned out to be pretty good; so good that the students kept asking to play more of it and in a larger playing area. However, we needed to create rules for the class, but I told them that as soon as we did that, we could play one more time. It just so happened that they just needed to warm up to the activity (which is true with about everything we do).
I have noticed that with this class, I seem to turn my back to the Spanish speakers. They tend to sit all together on the same side of the room. Whenever I gather the students back into a larger group to discuss and debrief, I am always asking the other students questions, but rarely do I get an answer from them or ask them a specific question. I don’t know why I had to resort back to being backwards and shy when talking to them in their language. I know I am not the best at it, but I only try it with a couple of students. Even at that, I have created a relationship with one of the other girls in the class in that if I don’t know how to translate something, she does it for me. I need to get over this fear because if I don’t, then I am not reaching all the students.
It is so hard to do adventure education with half the class missing because when they come back, they will have missed an important part of our process in working together as a team, building trust in one another, learning how to communicate, and creating a classroom in which the students feel comfortable and safe. What their classmates are learning while they are gone are invaluable things. Regardless, when those students return to the class, I hope the dynamics are not too disrupted.
I mentioned a while back about being overqualified to teach in any school across the nation. However, as I think about it more, it’s kind of a scary thought. Even though we are doing something revolutionary to change the way people think about physical education and the extensive knowledge and experience we have gained from this process, I am afraid that we might be too overqualified for some school districts. Sometimes I think that if a school sees the things that we have done, they would be hesitant in hiring us because they don’t want their program to change. Then again, some schools might be willing to accept the change. It can go either way.
I end with this parting thought. We have to bring the community back together.
Everyone has their own agenda and it goes back to that individuality that society is forcing upon us. When talking to the students about games that they should learn on the playground, they have no idea what we are talking about. It could be that they didn’t have access to the playground or they just weren’t exposed to it in this area. However, the playgrounds that envelope the schools in the city are forbidden after school is over. How is that fair and just for the students? I know that there is a concern for the equipment (that is why there are no nets on the outside basketball nets) and children safety, but they are on public property because the school belongs to that community. Why can’t we let children play on school playgrounds? I am tired of hearing about liability. That is what seems to be the biggest thing these days which influence the way people do things. Why can’t we get the community to come back together? Is it too far gone to even make a change?
Oh. And one last thing: You just can’t do the human knot with an odd number of people :).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment