What's Right, Not Wong

(What Teachers Really Need to Know for the First Day of School )

J. Newton and T. Van Geons

As a new teacher, the first day and week of school are thrilling, exciting, and filled with anxiety. You are about to venture into the world of high school, and while you attended one, and have studied for a minimum of four years to teach in one, there are a few things you should know before you enter the building on those first apprehensive days. The objective of this article, in plain fact, is to offer in short order some genuine pieces of advice from a few veteran teachers to any novice teachers. And although these ideas may seem simple and geared more towards secondary school settings, if used in conjunction with your own style, these recommendations will help you to set the tone for a productive and more enjoyable school year.

Think Gumby (A Lesson in Flexibility)
Some things will assuredly go wrong on the first day. Embrace that fact. No matter how exactly you have planned, nor how organized you may be, there will be a wrench (or twelve) thrown at you on this day. If you accept this and deal with problems as calmly as possible, then you will set a professional and trustworthy tone. And while you may be planning to accomplish a lot on that crucial first day, know that first days are incredibly hectic in a high school. You may only get 15 minutes with one class and 45 with another or 10 minutes with all of your classes. Learning flexibility on the first day of school will prepare you for the flexibility necessary for the remainder of the year. Moreover, you should know that you are responsible for so much more than teaching. Most likely, you will have a homeroom and will be responsible for attendance, assigning lockers, distributing various materials from the Central Office, School Office, the Cafeteria, the Health Department, et cetera. Depending on the grade level of your homeroom, a myriad of activities will be scheduled that are specific to that group of students. For example, seniors may have “senior meetings” and the new freshmen class will have a meeting of “High School Expectations 101.” If you can adopt this “bend but don’t break” attitude from day one, the students will be more receptive, you’ll learn to embrace the unexpected, and your likelihood of having a nervous breakdown is significantly reduced.

"Hello. My Name is Inigo Montoya" (Greeting Your Students)
Greet to each student. It is a proven fact that our favorite word is our name; try to say each student’s name at least twice in the course of your time together on that first day (if possible). Make a comment to each of them before they leave your classroom. This may take the form of responding to a comment on their student information sheets, or that you taught their brother or sister. It may just be a simple, “Welcome,” or “I’m glad you are here” when you are passing out bathroom passes for the semester. You’d be surprised how far this goes with students—some of whom rarely receive a kind word. As a teacher, you are much more than simply an instructor—you will become a trusted mentor if you can establish this relationship early on. And it all starts with a name.

Fasten Your Seat Belts (Seating Charts Help You Help Them)
It is ideal that a high school teacher would have his or her own classroom; however, this may not be the situation. In either case, you should become very familiar with the layout of the classroom(s) and create a seating chart for each class. Students should have assigned seats- it aids your ability to quickly learn names and establish consistency early on. Seating charts are not definite and may be altered (in the case of special needs students or obvious “chemistry” issues); but as students come to your class for the first time, they look for and need “their” seats. They begin to feel comfortable in the knowledge that you are organized and that you have thought about them in placing their names on a desk. This preparation is a non-verbal signal that tells students that you care for them. A simple note card can establish order in your classroom environment, convey authority to, and develop a relationship with your students. After all, you want your students to associate your room more as the “space of success and serenity” rather than the “cave of confusion and chaos.”

Ice, Ice Baby (How to Break the Ice on the First Day)
Icebreakers come in all forms and fashions, although it is recommended to utilize one that allows for a comfort level that challenges but encourages. For example, you may want to use a simple reading autobiography. Have them get out a sheet of paper and write one of three phrases: “I love to read,” “I like to read/reading is okay,” or “I loathe/abhor reading.” Underneath the phrase that they choose which suits them best, have them brainstorm everything they’ve ever read in their lives starting with the most recent and moving backwards. After giving them a few minutes, start with the teacher (yes, you) and go around the room and say, “My name is ________, and I _________ reading, and I base this opinion largely on reading ________.” They can use books, short stories, magazines, newspapers, et cetera. Just get them thinking! This will open up a good dialogue and make them realize that there are all sorts of readers and thinkers in the room and that in order to form a community, they should respect the differences of one another. Of course there are many types of activities to choose from for icebreakers—find one that suits your style and challenges the students to open up and reach out to the rest of the class.

You’re Not the Grinch and You’re Not a Student Anymore…(Teacher Conduct and Dress)
Not smiling until Christmas is too harsh, but setting the tone on the first day makes sustaining the tone you want much, much easier. To begin, introduce yourself as a human being. Give some details of your life that may or may not necessarily align with the state mandated curriculum. Once students realize that you are not a machine, they are much more apt to identify with you and give their best effort. Be yourself. High school students are highly intuitive, especially these days, and they will know if you are not being your genuine self. They may not know their parts of speech, but they will know if you are going through the motions or being yourself. In addition, the way you dress on the first day of school (first week really) gives away everything about you. While the way you dress may not necessarily affect your teaching style, the students will assume so. A teacher wearing a suit versus a teacher wearing a tee shirt gives two very different impressions. Be aware that dress does matter.

Mess with the Bull and You’ll Get the Horns (Rules, Procedures, & Classroom Expectations)
Perhaps the most difficult preplanning activity is deciding the rules and expectations for your class. Do you want students to raise their hands to answer questions? Do you have procedures in place for restroom breaks, classroom resources, and even homework checks? How will your students enter and exit your class? What should they do in the event of a fire alarm? What are your expectations for their classroom behavior? All of these must be explicitly addressed. Moreover, get a copy of the school-wide rules (often found in the school handbook) and make sure your rules align with these school-wide policies. Clearly mark the rules for the class on a visible spot at the front of the room. Establish rules early and very clearly. Introduce them the first day, and review them for the entire first week of class and sporadically thereafter. As a teacher, you cannot assume that students know how to behave appropriately in your classroom, so you must tell them, more than once. Expect to demonstrate and repeatedly remind students of your expectations. Gentle corrections may be necessary, but the more your students know about your expectations, the smoother your classroom will run.

Throw the Book at ‘em (Agendas and Textbooks are Key)
Students need to know what they are going to work on, study, or what is coming up next. High school tends to be a bit chaotic, and agendas are necessary for students to feel a sense of order. On the first day of school, having an agenda posted on the board will help students know what the day has in store for them. For each of your classes, you may want to post the agenda for the week as well. This will help you stay on task and will help them anticipate your upcoming classes. Moreover, it helps greatly to have assigned books for them with their names in them under their desk—this seems a bit of work ahead of time, but it again helps with the comfort zone.

Message in a Bottle (Send Home a Packet of Information)
Students become so frenzied on the first day of school. Sending home a packet of information for students to peruse later that day will help them remember all that you introduced during your first class meeting. Parents and guardians will be glad to receive this information as well. The packet should contain your syllabus with your rules, procedures, classroom expectations, a list of required materials, a homework agreement, a brief letter to your students introducing yourself, and your contact information. Include your school email address, and if you have one, your class website. Sending this information home is a valuable resource for your students and their parents or guardians. Offer your professional web-address if applicable, but avoid giving your personal contact information such as your personal email. This above all- keep the packet as simple as possible. Do not overwhelm the students or the parents to the point where they won’t even look at the information at home.

Speak of the Devil (Give Homework)
Giving homework on the first day of school sets the tone for your classroom. The homework can be as little as having parents or guardians sign a homework agreement or a receipt of reading your syllabus with their child. Giving homework sets the tone for the upcoming year and demonstrates to students that they must be responsible for their own work, even on the first day of school. Moreover, have the students do some reflecting on their experiences in your subject area and some personal type assignment such as a personality type quiz or an “I Am” poem the first day. Assigning reading, or, heaven forbid, reading homework on the first night is ambitious, but it may drive a student over his or her tolerance threshold very early on, and although you may be setting the bar high in your mind, the students may not give you another chance. Your job is to “sell” yourself and the class. They need to believe that you care about them and their opinions. Again, they are much more apt to work that way throughout the semester.

What’s Another Word for Thesaurus? (Humor and Sarcasm)
Don’t use sarcasm with the students until you have developed a relationship with them and/or after you make it quite clear that your intention (if it is so) is to lighten the mood with sarcasm rather that to use it in any sort of derogatory sense against students. You would be surprised how many teachers (even veteran ones) do just that. Moreover, as it relates to your temperament, don’t read a bunch of don’ts…it sets a tone…and you will set a tone one way or the other…thus the reason for more do’s than don’ts on this list. Oh, and by the way, throw up if you need to do so on the first day, but try to do it before class begins.

Since Brevity is the Soul of Wit (A Few Shorter Last-minute Tips)

First and Foremost. Oh, and by the way, throw up if you need to do so on the first day, but try to do it before class begins.

Humor and Sarcasm. Don’t use sarcasm with students until you have developed a relationship with them. Sarcasm and humor may be used to lighten the mood, but do not use it in any sort of derogatory sense.

Listening. Realize that students generally listen the most on two days…the first day and the day before the final exam. Use that time wisely.

Around the World. If possible on that first day, give students a quick “tour around the world” in 60 seconds. Show them where they can find simple things such as the pencil sharpener, the tissues, the computers, the printers, the hall pass, the collateral box, et cetera. Set the boundaries now. This will aid even further in establishing a comfortable classroom environment.

Don’t Do It. Don’t read a bunch of don’ts…it sets a tone…and you will set a tone one way or the other…thus the reason for more do’s than don’ts on this list.

Buy an Air Freshener. Buy and keep an air freshener in the classroom. Keep one at the front and back of the room. It’s amazing what a simple fragrance will do to help morale in the room. Moreover, the smell of 25-30 students in a relatively small room can heat up quickly, and you can do the math—lots of kids plus small area plus long amount of time equals really hot and bad odor eventually.

Reliable Advocate. It’s important to make sure that each student has at least one reliable student contact (whether phone number or email or both) in the class whom they may contact in the event of an absence.

Overwhelming Students. Try not to overwhelm students on the first day—when you overwhelm them, you become overwhelmed as well. Give them time to take it in and breathe. Enough said.

Have Fun. Teaching is about providing a safe and comfortable environment in which students can process information and develop skills necessary for life. If you enjoy teaching, chances are that they will enjoy learning.


Parting Shots: It is critical to remember that while you are anxious, know that the students entering your room that first day are just as anxious as you are, if not more so. The above are some suggestions for the first day of school that may prepare you for what is to come thereby alleviating some of that anxiety. The less nervous you are, or at least appear, the less nervous your students will be. Remember, you only have one first day of school this year. Make the best of it by planning and being prepared. Happy New School Year!

repsonse to questions on methods

the following is an email i received from a student whom i taught several years back...and my rambling responses...enjoy!

your questions: i have a question of opinion, perhaps, rather than methodology..but what do you think of high school english standards? just the regular courses, not honors necessarily. do you think school standards and tests (like the sophmore writing test) are adaqutely preparing students for college? can teachers do more than what's just required, or do you have to really stick to what the school (or state) says you have to teach? i'm investigating the No Child Left Behind Act, and i'm hoping to do a persuasive speech on it. i'm looking for some real insight, especially since my soap box leans toward why kids in college can't seem to write a decent two-page essay. thanks for the time!

my responses: your questions are apt as i am working on my national boards and i am having to revisit language arts adolescent and young adult level standards. you can find a list on the nc dpi site and the more in-depth ones on the nbpts site. however, i think that your questions were a bit more general with regards to english teaching standards. if i am wrong in this assumption, please let me know. i will try not to let this be a complete diatribe, but i am looking at this as a catharsis of sorts. but remember, you've asked some REALLY general and open-ended questions here...the more specific the question, the more helpful the answer in most cases...

at any rate, here are my thoughts: what do i think of high school english standards? by and large, they are poor...across nc and the united states. like the standards across the curriculum, the standards have continued to abate in the past years and decades...even further if you do your homework into the beginning of the 20th century. look up the 8th grade test in the early 1900s...most college graduates today couldn't pass it. add to that the increasing number of administrators who push everything but academics...this is one of the main reasons i left mount pleasant because the administration didn't have the maturity nor the intelligence to support academia. and as a result, high schools pander to spoiled parents and their even more spoiled children and enable them...not realizing they are weakening them for a society...forget university...that will require them to be genuine life-long learners. no, susie, you don't REALLY have to learn how to research and incorporate MLA citations into your paper...that's alright...go back to your nap, or your make-up, or your ipod...and tune out. most administrations will tell you they want high standards, but the problem is that most of them don't know the standards nor really support teachers on enforcing the standards.

next question: do you think school standards and tests (like the sophomore writing test) are adequately preparing students for college?
again, increasingly the students arriving at the high school doors cannot write in complete sentences or in some cases spell their own name. so the learning curve is much greater for more and more. the tests? they were devised and written with the benefit of the students in mind, but they are increasingly becoming antiquated due to shifts in lifestyles and technology. the tests are a means to an end. 9th grade EOC is reading comprehension and identification of basic literary terms. 10th grade has been the writing test (literary analysis has given way to informational writing--cause/effect, term definition, and problem solution) for the past 9 years that i have been teaching and i believe this is its final year...it is being phased out in order to phase in the nc graduation project. check out my website (www.newtonhomestead.com) link to graduation project to learn more about it. it is, like the others, well intentioned i believe, but it has been ill-executed. but there is a learning curve for teachers as well. i do believe, though, despite the tediousness of the research paper, the meetings, the portfolio, the presentation, etc, etc, etc...that this project will better benefit those college-bound students more in the sense that they will be better suited for college writing--even basic comp. stuff like informational, persuasive, research, narrative, etc. and the students will be better at communication skills both in written and verbal form. so nc is getting there test-wise. although i am not sure that the damage, overall, that testing has incurred will ever be remedied. objective testings breeds black and white thinkers and thus, no true thinkers at all...and we wonder why they can't problem solve...

can teachers do more than what's just required, or do you have to really stick to what the school (or state) says you have to teach?
during my first few years teaching, i taught exactly what i was told to teach. since then i have learned that although there are set curricula for every course, you can add or detract from the course to fit the needs of individual students at times. the good teachers go above and beyond the state mandated curriculum (such as ones who answer questions from inquiring college kids whom he has taught in the past:). to be honest, most teachers don't know the standards and teach the best they can...there are so many lateral entry folks nowadays who haven't a clue about methodology and they sometimes cover the standards better using their own style without having taken courses in "how to teach." translation, they develop their own style more quickly. this can be good and bad...most lateral entry whom i have observed have burned out within a year or two at the most. i know the standards and go about teaching them in my own way...getting kids to write and reflect on print and non-print texts daily and developing persuasion and research often without their even being aware of it. but that's just me. every teacher is different with regards to sticking to the state mandates, although most teachers are just as stressed, if not more so, than the students...which leads me to No Child Left Behind...

to be honest, i haven't found the teacher yet who, even if this program was funded, would support it. it is simply an under-funded joke that helps the politicians sleep at night...and perhaps provides fodder for campaign speeches. the whole system needs an overhaul and legislation like NCLB is just delaying the inevitable. the system cannot continue as it is today. but that is another discussion for another day. i hope to have directly, or indirectly answered some of your questions. if my writings page of my website if helpful to you, then help yourself (http://www.newtonhomestead.com/mywritings.html)


take care,
and on your speech, bonne chance.
cheers,
j. newton

Cadet Teacher Interview with Jake

1. Where did you go to college? Why?

I attended Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. I chose this school over NC State due to the Education Program and the beautiful natural surroundings. I like to spend time outdoors (fly fishing, hiking, etc.) and it seemed to be a good balance of school and nature.

2. Why did you decide to become a teacher?

I have always enjoyed helping others in any way that I could. In high school, I helped tutor and helped in various volunteering capacities and I always enjoyed the feeling after a long day knowing that I had helped another human being even in a small way, or in some small way helped make their day better.

3. What has been your best experience as a teacher?

Although there have been many experiences, both great and small throughout my 8 years teaching, receiving the Time Warner Cable Star Teacher Award last year was the most powerful and profound culminating experience. I have only ever taught one student during his 10^th, 11^th and 12^th grade years and to have that student write an essay and present an award to me was the best and most humbling experience I have ever had as a teacher.

4. What has been your worst experience as a teacher?

Although I wouldn’t say the worst, I would say the most disappointing part of teaching was the lack of administrative focus on students and teachers at my last school. The emphasis there was on bureaucratic red tape, procedures, paperwork and ineffective strategies and this led to student and parental apathy. After several years, I had a difficult time committing myself to a school that, unlike South, did not support the faculty nor put the students as the first priority.

5. When did you know you wanted to teach?

There wasn’t one single moment; however, I always knew I wanted to teach and lead by relatively quiet example. When I was first at college I thought I might want to teach younger grades or history; but after my first few English courses, I knew that I had found my niche.

6. Why English?

English covers so many areas of life and addresses so many key questions that I feel need to be answered. There is profound life in English—the history, the lives of the authors, the themes, the conflicts, the problems, the solutions, the writing. Also, English is dynamic in the sense that language is always changing and new books are always being written. There is always a new frontier with English—and in addition, the students always keep it interesting. No matter how many times I teach a certain novel, students always surprise me with their various points of view. English is a vibrant and living subject.

7. Who was your favorite teacher and why?

This depends on the context and the definition of ‘favorite’. In high school, my favorite and most memorable teacher was Bill Campbell. He taught (and tortured) a small class of Honors American Literature and his interest, his humor, and honest enthusiasm and critiques were memorable. Moreover, I’ll never forget a banner above his board which read “what we learn with joy, we never forget.” I never forgot. The most incredible teacher I have ever come across is Richard Miller (who now teaches at Gray Stone School). I co-taught a 10^th Grade Course, Honors World Humanities, with him and learned so much from him about teaching methods and content. In my mind, he is a good friend, a wealth of knowledge, and the model of a perfect teacher.

8. What are the most effective teaching methods?

The most effective teaching methods vary from subject to subject and vary even more greatly from student to student. In my classes I feel I am most effective when I can tailor a class to meet the needs of my students. For example, I think the chemistry of some classes lends itself more to Socratic Seminars and discussions, while other classes learn more through lecture and group work with a specific goal in mind.

9. What are the least effective teaching methods?

For me, direct instruction and archaic cut-and-dried six-point lesson plan methodology (although useful in some settings) seems to be the most outdated and least effective. But again, in such an ever-changing world, the least effective teaching methods are the ones in which students can tell the teacher is disinterested in the lesson. If the teacher is ‘plugged in’ and engaged in a given subject and can communicate this to the students, more times than not the teacher will be effective. Keep in mind that entire books have been written on the subject of methodology, so this question and the one before it are incredibly broad.

10. Was there ever a time in college when you wanted to change your major and not be a teacher?

Not really. There are so many things that you can do with an English degree and I think that the only time that I entertained the idea of going another direction was when I had some written work judged and published in college. I still write off and on and I have an online blog and web site that I maintain. I will probably publish this interview on my page. Thanks for the questions Jake. I hope this helps and let me know if there is anything else you need.

Teaching Philosophies

Teaching Philosophies

(TOY Mini-essay Responses)

Educational History and Professional Development Activities (Use a 12 point Time New Roman font, double-spacing, and limit your response to two pages.)

1. Beginning with the most recent, list colleges and universities attended including post-graduate studies. Indicate degrees earned and dates of attendance.

Appalachian State University, Boone, NC

Attended 1995-2000, graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science Degree in English, Secondary Education; Concentrations: History and Latin

2. Beginning with the most recent, list teaching employment history indicating time period, grade level and subject area.

South Stanly High School: 2005-2008 (three years) English II Standard, English III Honors, and English IV Standard and Honors

Mount Pleasant High School: 2000-2005 (five years) English I Reading and Writing Competency, 9^th Grade Freshman Seminar, English II Standard and Honors, English IV Standard and Honors

3. Beginning with the most recent, list professional association memberships including information regarding offices held and other relevant activities.

NCTE, NCAE, Member of Alpha Chi Academic Honor Society, Member of

Phi Alpha Theta History Society

4. Beginning with the most recent, list staff development leadership activities and leadership activities in the training of beginning or future teachers.

Staff training for the 10^th grade Writing Test, Mentoring first year lateral entry teachers in SSHS English Department, Staff development workshops on webpage building and Sharp School Web design, INTEL Teach for the Future Workshop and Training

5. Beginning with the most recent, list awards and other recognition for your teaching.

2008 SSHS Teacher of the Year, 2008 Time Warner Cable Star Teacher Award, Nominated for Teacher of the Month 3 times at SSHS, Nominated for First Year Teacher of the Year in 2001

Professional Biography

“Nine-tenths of education is encouragement.” ~Anatole France. The factors that have influenced me to become a teacher are many and varied, but I will begin with my parents, as they are the ones who most instilled a level of compassion which I strive for each day in my classroom.

My mother, Joyce, has been a teacher of many things including elementary school and, for many years, a Lamaze instructor. She currently works as an Crisis Director for the Cooperative Christian Ministries, an organization designed to help others not just by offering food and shelter, but by giving them means to help themselves. In this sense, I am reminded of the adage, “Give a man a fish, and you give him a meal for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you give him a meal for a lifetime.” My mother has instilled within me the desire to help other human beings to find their own strengths, and this is the core of what my teaching is all about. She is compassionate, intelligent, wise, and driven by personal faith. My parents separated when I was five years old and my mother remarried when I was about nine. Likewise, my step-father is another influence on my life. Tony is the epitome of emotional strength and guidance. He has worked as the head Chaplain at Northeast Medical Center in Concord for nearly 30 years. It was not until high school and beyond that I recognized the full extent to which he labored and gave to others. A man who can deal with dying, death, and grieving families all day long and often through the night, and then come home and not retain the emotional baggage he had consumed just astounds me to this day. I feel and have vocalized to him that I wouldn’t have the strength to handle his job and his retort is only that he would not be able to teach high school students English the way that I do. Everyone is gifted in different ways; we are given different strengths by God and I have been influenced and encouraged by two of the strongest and most compassionate and gracious human beings I have ever known.

In addition, I have been privileged to have numerous other friends, colleagues, and experiences that urged me to teach. I worked for several summers at the Concord Park and Recreation Department playground program as a leader and found my strengths and weaknesses with children ages 5-15. In college, my friends at the Wesley Foundation encouraged me to lead groups. Consequently, I was also involved with the contemporary worship team and praise band at Lake Junaluska; in this group I relied on my faith and became more of the leader I believe I was destined to become—a quiet leader who leads by example. Indeed, my student teaching experiences and my first few years of teaching influenced my personal teaching methodology even further and the support and encouragement of the English department at Mount Pleasant High School was integral in helping me to find my educational voice. Finally, my current family at SSHS for the past three years has been supportive and nurturing and I could not ask for a better place to live, work and grow. As I look back, I have done a bit of soul-searching and math. I have taught nearly a thousand students, many of whom I see or hear from daily at various points in their educational lives, careers and travels. Most of these students I have taught as seniors just before they leap head-long into the “real world.” My greatest contributions and accomplishments in education? That I have given these students something of the virtues I received from so many others—the things that really matter in an ever-changing world—hope, self-worth, determination, perseverance, patience and love.

Community Involvement

"The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others." ~Ghandi

It is an understatement to say that teachers wear a myriad of hats in this profession. Each day we are asked to give of our time and talents. This past year, during the Breast Cancer Awareness Week, I, along with another colleague, raised the most money and was given the distinct pleasure of kissing a baby pig on the snout in front of the entire school. Two years ago, I lost a bet with my English IV class and had to shave my legs for the Canned Food Drive for the Stanly County Cooperative Extension. That year, we gathered more cans than any other school in the county. These acts constitute some of the more outlandish demonstrations of my commitment to the community and to the school. Moreover, my involvement with the community has involved several different groups. I have been actively involved with the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the FCA Praise Band. This group organizes the Operation Christmas Child Project for the Samaritan’s Purse Organization. This is a worthwhile organization that spreads hope and faith throughout the world. Additionally, I have worked with students and faculty members at the school to begin a Green Club in order to increase a school-wide recycling program. I have volunteered during the summers at the local Cooperative Christian Ministries, and I have taught adult computer classes at the Kannapolis Cyber Campus. Further, I enjoy supporting all of our athletic programs and drama productions here at the school. Finally and most recently, I have cut 10 inches of my hair which I had grown out over the past two years with the expressed purpose of donating the hair to the Locks of Love Organization.

Philosophy of Teaching

“Comments? Questions? Concerns? Smart remarks for the good of the cause?” I often use these queries when wrapping up a discussion or activity in my English classes. I believe that it covers almost all of the grounds for what I believe to be good teaching. Teaching should be a dialogue and I often learn as much from students as they do from me. I chose English because it lends itself to the rational (think grammar, syntax, structure) as well at the emotional (think the depths of poetry and prose). I believe that good teaching should be a balance of the two—both reason and passion. Students in my discussions feel comfortable enough to voice their own opinion, but they quickly realize that they should have concrete reasons for that opinion. Literature is a great jumping off point for discussions, and I believe these discussions are the most instructive and memorable parts of my classes.

Furthermore, I encourage students to make comments, but also to ask questions, and if I do not know the answer to a question, I make it a point to find out the answer. Much of my classroom discussion revolves around the Socratic Method. You will often hear from me, “The best books are not answers to questions, they are themselves the questions.” And thus, questioning, correctly directed, leads to thoughtful discussion and quality learning.

Concerns? I feel I am at my best as a teacher when I address student concerns. I often ask if there are questions and I allow students too shy to speak in front of others to drop me a note on their daily exit sheets. My compassion for others extends beyond the classroom, and students know that they can come to talk with me about nearly anything. And although this listening to and helping with the concerns of others is certainly the most exhausting part of my job, it is often the most rewarding. And this is what students, faculty members and parents see—that you are pushing students to excel while at the same time allowing them to voice concerns and come to you to discuss problems.

Smart remarks? After developing a relationship with the students, I use dry humor to lighten the mood on a daily basis, to challenge them to think, and to express my personality. I intertwine jokes (knowing full well I am not funny) in order to connect with students. Often, you will hear remarks such as, “you know guys, the other day I was in a speed-reading accident…I hit a bookmark…pages went everywhere!” This allows the students to know that although I hold very high expectations of myself and them, I do not take myself too seriously and that I am self-effacing as well.

As far as the rewards of teaching go, I keep a rainy-day file and I have a bulletin board up next to my desk of pictures, letters, cards and other memorabilia that remind me that this is worth it. I have often told others that one thank you note can get me through a month of teaching. A student who returns from college and tells you that you have prepared them well is a reward that can never be repaid. It is often surprising that the little gratitude most teachers get will feed them for a long time.

Finally, I will leave you with a quote by Brigham Young who once said “Education is the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world's work, and the power to appreciate life.” On a daily basis, you can see my concern for students as I push them to learn about themselves as well as about better reading comprehension and writing skills. I encourage them to think for themselves and to coexist with others in this environment as a microcosm of the larger world outside. I believe in our youth. I am inspired and driven daily by our youth, and I will continue to do my best to challenge and nurture them as long as possible.

Positioning of the Pansies (Educational Environment)

Positioning of the Pansies

08/23/08

As the beginning of the school year looms, I have been thinking about several things, some of which may concern subsequent scribblings. However, the first concerns my garden. I have surrounded my small farm house with flowers and vegetables this summer, and as I have pruned and watered them this summer, I have thought about the many extended life metaphors that have presented themselves through plants. In particular, I have a wooden window-box on my front porch with white pansies flanked with red snap-dragons. With pansies you have to prune them back and often the blooms die back when older blooms and dying under-foliage are not trimmed back. So I peeled back some of the extra baggage carried by these and other plants. I watered and cared for the plants and yet there seemed only to be minimal growth. After some thought, I considered the position of the box on the porch. On a whim, I moved it to a side that would get more in-direct, rather than direct, sunlight. Within days, the flowers and foliage exploded. I hadn’t done anything except moved the position of the plant to a slightly different environment. And the flowers thrived. Sometimes, I think, you have to trim old baggage and sometimes it simply takes a change of venue. This can be taken a myriad of directions, but I will take it in the pedagogical sense.

Thus, in like manner, as I begin the new year at the schoolhouse, I have thought much about the environment of my room. Not only to be an extension of myself and my methods, I want the room to feel welcoming and comforting to all the students. In this way, students will be encouraged, not threatened, and thus possibly more apt to learn. In high school, I remember a banner over my Junior English teacher’s board that read, “What we learn with joy, we never forget.” And that room felt like home. In addition, I want to be more mindful this year of the positioning of students in the room. Each class has a distinct chemistry and personality and the more I consider the positioning of the flowers, the more I think that students will develop differently and drastically even if they are moved even a few feet in a different direction. I will keep that in mind for plants and people...

Cheers and blessings for a good year,

~Newton

Advice to the New and/or prospective teacher (archive blog from 2007)

ADVICE TO THE NEW AND/OR PROSPECTIVE TEACHER

I’ve been pondering a question put to me the other day from a former student who wishes to go into the field of teaching. I’ve coupled this with the recent addition to our new English department and my “mentoring” responsibilities for said addition. It struck me that I have begun several times writing epistles of advice to new teachers or angst-ridden diatribes (more for my own catharsis than anything else) in order to make sense of my own growth as a teacher and human being and help clarify the realities and falsehoods of the great profession of teaching—particularly high school English. Perhaps this is God’s way of spurring on this writing—as I’ve always enjoyed writing and found clarity in it as well. So for selfish and selfless reasons, I will offer some advice and thoughts on a variety of topics regarding English teaching. If you have any questions about any of this, please email me or call or as they love to do in public school, we can set up a committee to discuss your comments, questions concerns or smart remarks—and in doing so, we can kill a few trees with typed/copied agendas and the like. J I will try to keep this more advice than diatribe…because I really do enjoy teaching. I will organize my thoughts into the following categories: “what to expect,” “general advice,” “helpful courses and literature and information to use per grade level,” “suggestions for experiences and/or observations,”

What to expect:

Students who lack or have severe issues with the following:

-Grammar and spelling skills, Organization and time management, Materials, Writing ability, Patience, Responsibility, Study skills, Social skills, Mores, Attention span, Listening skills, Maturity issues, Lack of initiative, Home support, Work ethic

General advice:

-You can loosen up, but you can’t tighten up. Start strong and let students know that you mean what you say…give them the warning and then the door. Do it quietly and efficiently—taking away their “stage,” because generally noisy and disruptive students are generally just attention-deprived and that’s all they are seeking anyway.

-Document everything—parent contacts, student comments, grades, attendance, etc.

-Avoid sarcasm with students until you develop a relationship with them. Additionally, sarcasm should be used to lighten the mood—never to hurt other human beings. Humor can break barriers, but it can also destroy trust.

- The days directly before or after a holiday/break, however long or short, will be chaotic or somnia-inducing. Don’t attempt to teach anything of great importance on these days

- Don’t rely too heavily on Romano or Wong. Like many administrators, these guys

haven’t been in a real classroom in quite some time. Don’t trust people like that.

-Although parents should be the first teachers, most aren’t.

-Contact coaches to help reinforce discipline when possible. Many involved in sports will listen to coaches 10 times more than you. Plus, heaven forbid, unless the kid cleans up his/her act, he/she may not start!

Helpful courses and literature and information to use per grade level:

I have many times talked with colleagues in the department about this very question: What courses are most important in college? And if I had my druthers, I would rearrange the whole curriculum of college prep for teachers. I would include courses in 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th grade literature and study the actual books, stories, and poetry that most high schools really use. Heck, if high school teachers are expected to get through this amount of material in one semester, why not have a class for each grade level? At any rate, a prospective teacher should be familiar with the follow per grade level:

For 9^th grade, study the following authors/works: Basic literary terms and identification of these terms in reading passages—for the 9^th grade EOC test, Romeo and Juliet, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Odyssey, Adolescent Literature, A Separate Peace, Killing Mr. Griffin, Tears of a Tiger, Walking Across Egypt, The Outsiders, General poetry and both a good knowledge base of Greek and Roman mythology, The Call of the Wild…

For 10^th grade, study the following authors/works: Writing test for 10^th graders—be familiar with five paragraph essay form—particularly with term definition and cause and effect writing, Night, A Doll’s House, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Phantom of the Opera, Siddhartha, The Alchemist, The Stranger, Waiting for the Rain, Rice Without Rain, Cyrano de Bergerac, Don Quizote, Epic of Gilgamesh, Kaffir Boy, Nectar in a Sieve, Oedipus Rex, Medeah, General Greek Mythology, the Holocaust, Things Fall Apart, Les Miserables, The Count of Monte Cristo, and excerpts from the Bible…

For 11^th grade, study the following authors/works: The Crucible, A Raisin in the Sun, Go Ask Alice, Our Town, The Joy Luck Club, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Anne Bradstreet, Jonathan Edwards, Ben Franklin’s Autobiography, The Scarlet Letter, Transcendental and Gothic American poetry, Washington Irving, R. W. Emerson, H. D. Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Frederick Douglass, Ambrose Bierce, Emily Dickinson, Kate Chopin—The Awakening, Zora Neal Hurston, Mark Twain—short stories and Huck Finn, Edwin Arlington Robinson, John Steinbeck—Of Mice and Men, F. Scott Fitzgerald—The Great Gatsby, Heminway—The Old Man and the Sea, and some more modern American authors…

For 12^th grade, study the following authors/works: Anglo-Saxon and Middle Ages of Britain History, The Canterbury Tales Prologue and various tales such as “The Pardoner’s Tale,” “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” “Le Morte d’ Arthur,” Thomas Mallory and the Arthurian Legend, English Renaissance history, Shakespearean sonnets, Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, Taming of the Shrew, Metaphysical and Cavalier poets, Samuel Pepys, Jonathan Swift—“A Modest Proposal” and Gulliver’s Travels, Joseph Addison and Richard Steele’s work, William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, the poetry of William Wordsworth, S.T. Coleridge—The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the poetry of Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and John Keats, Mary Shelley—Frankenstein, Victorian Poetry and history, the poetry of Lord Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, and Eliot, James Joyce, Graham Greene, D.H. Lawrence and Pygmalion (My Fair Lady), as well as other modern British authors, Brave New World, Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, Heart of Darkness, The Importance of Being Earnest, Lord of the Flies, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, The Once and Future King, Wuthering Heights…

A Bit About Experiences/Observations:

I would say to the new/prospective high school English teacher this: the best piece of advice I can give you deals with observations. Do not wait for student teaching to reengage yourself into the high school environment. I wish the college curriculum had a course simply in observations of other teachers—the good, the bad and the ugly—of all different disciplines—not just English. Often you can learn as much or more from a bad teacher as from a good one; and you can learn as much or more from a science teacher as from a history, P.E. or English teacher about how a classroom environment functions. GO OUT AND OBSERVE AS MANY TEACHERS AS YOU CAN! Ask permission first, of course, and take notes from each and sit down with the teachers and pick their brain. It has been my experience that most teachers are kindly (and often introverted) people who are willing to help: How do they start the class? How do they address discipline? Do they have discussions? Do they post objectives? What are they reading? What are they writing? How do they keep up with grades? Do they give homework? How do they address individual student needs? I learned more from my cooperating teacher my third year teaching than during most of methodology classes in college. Teaching is about putting your own philosophies into action and you simply cannot learn that in a book—it’s about experience and wisdom—not about knowledge.

P.S. an addendum of some thoughts started a few years ago….

Methods College Courses

Real Methods that Work

Chapter Ideas:

Administration(or lack thereof)/Beaurocracy

Discipline Cases

Fellow Teachers

Environment

The Cherished Few/Small victories

Testing

Blind Idealism

Methods College Courses

Real Methods that Work

Burn Out/Teachers Who Care

Why the System will fail

Lack of Parental Support

Shift of Power

Coaching

Club Sponsorships and Duties

Workshops

Interviews

Portfolios and examples

Technology and plagiarism

Lecturing and why it won’t work

Sarcasm and when to use it

2^nd year ILT Portfolio

Acronyms---IEP students

I will begin this by telling you that most High School Methods courses offered in college are horrifyingly inadequate because they are not designed to help genuinely establish your own method of teaching. Even if you are well intentioned and want to organize all of your burgeoning ideals into a collective, most professors will impress upon you their ideology. Don’t allow it. Tools are simply not enough to develop your ability and energies. This is not to discount the wisdom, guidance and intelligence of teachers and professors. Many non-cynical professors offer inspiration and insight that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. No. I am hear to give you REAL insight into what happens day to day in a High School Teacher’s life. You will read, if you dare, the good and the bad….but the honest accounts, examples and thoughts of my experience. I will attempt to keep these chapters short to leave a lasting impact. I wish I had read these things before teaching.

I have been teaching at a rural High School in the Piedmont of North Carolina for five years. I have taught 9^th, 10^th and 12^th grade English during this time. And I’ve found that I’ve taught very little of the English Lit. that I so enjoyed in college. I have had to learn on the fly and make sense of the material as I taught it. I wish there would have been one class per grade level on the literature taught in my school. Now I realize that curriculum varies from school to school, county to county and state to state, but I’ve found that Northanger Abbey and The Metamorphosis and Dante’s Inferno were wastes of time as it relates to teaching high school. Yes, they are great pieces of literature and I am better for having read them, but these kids, and they are kids, for the most part can’t wrap their minds around them. Back to my original point, colleges should have taught these courses and I hope the now antiquated system will revolutionize. This goes for colleges and high schools alike. Things will, must, change or the system will cease to exist.

Timing of this one methods course that finally combined how to teach with what to teach came entirely too late in college. Yes, I gained experience in tutoring and in the college writing center and helping assist a professor in teaching a 1000 level expository writing class. But why wait until the end to put all this together?

The bigger beef I have is with the timing of the student teaching timing. Why must we wait to see how we will respond to teaching at the conclusion of our college career. For many of the student teachers I have seen come and go, it’s the old sink or swim analogy. My advice it to get out there into high school classes—as many as you can—and simply observe teaching styles, problems, victories…anything and everything you can. I really wish I had done this. And observe in other disciplines. I have learned much from science and math teachers.

Many of you are like many of the teachers I’ve met and learned from---introverts masquerading as extroverts. Right? How many student teachers are terrified and won’t know how to react? Why not expose student teachers to this experience little bits at a time rather than allow them to revel in their love of literature in a More-esque Utopia until the proverbial excrement hits the fan. Throw them into the fire at the end? I hope you sense my tone here because subtlety is not a strong suit. I’ve been one of these quiet ones for too long. Time for honesty. And honestly, unless you have the stamina to withstand long hours of grueling grading and planning, belligerent kids, disgruntled parents, witless administrators, and endless bureaucracy with little gratification and little pay, then don’t teach. Can it be wonderful and fulfilling? Certainly, but you must allow it to. Make your own happiness through this noble profession. I believe it can be done.

Student Teaching and Mentor Teachers

I had a wonderful mentor teacher during my first years and a tyrannical, self-righteous cooperating teacher when I was student teaching. Had I not had the former, I would have allowed the latter and her methods to condemn me to a very short-lived an even more angst-ridden teaching experience.

I student taught in 2000 and my teacher, Nodghia, had been teaching at the school for 20 some odd years. She was convinced in the merits of her unconventional methods and this had alienated her from the department—a tragic mistake. I didn’t realize this until much later in the semester. She was the self-appointed queen of writing and we had many conversations about the importance of expressional writing and transactional writing. Most of the students hated her thoroughly, and I naively thought that this was how to teach and garner a modicum of respect. I had to endure her while teaching regular English IV classes. Most of the students were welcoming to a change from this queen of darkness. And she did have some methods that worked well that I will outline in a later chapter, but her condescending remarks and attitude were not to be admired. I suffered through and learned more what not to do than what to do. She taught “unconventionally” with no tests or quizzes. I adopted these philosophies because I simply had no real ones to offer. I didn’t get to observe other teachers until the end of the semester. Another tragic mistake. Don’t make that one. Observe as much as you can. So no tests or quizzes. How did we evaluate you might ask? Well, she felt writing on basically lengthy discussion questions outside of class was the answer. It is not. Plagiarism, which will also be discussed at length, is now rampant in public high schools. If you give students a chance, more than half will take this opportunity to cheat. With technology advancing and the research capabilities and fallacies of the Internet, students can access a paper in no time. Some times you can find the paper in no time and other times it is impossible to find, even thought the writing style is clearly not the same. In either case, this philosophy of Nodghia’s teaching was outdated largely by technology and she was non-the-wiser. Students had learned (and they can be very bright mind you) how to skirt her strategies without her knowledge. And they hated her as well? I kept asking myself was the torture here worth it? But I had sacrificed so much to get to this point. So many nights studying with this goal in mind. And although my cooperating teacher retired after my semester with her, I found myself wondering what on earth I had signed up for. And again, this book is meant to be an honest look at teaching in the 21^st century public schools of America. I will describe both the pro’s and con’s of this profession. I guess what this paragraph is meant to say is don’t adopt a philosophy that is not your own. The students will know whether or not you are being yourself. And it may take time to discover your style.

Onward and upward to my mentor teacher, Teresa. Each new fledgling teacher in his/her first year teaching is assigned a mentor teacher to guide them through their first year experiences. They help you fill out almost meaningless paperwork like BGP (beginning growth plan—get used to seemingly endless acronyms) and support you. Teresa has helped as she is a genuinely nurturing person with patience and wisdom. Emotionally driven, she is knowledgeable and kind. On many occasions I simply vented to her my frustrations about students or parents. Another necessity you must have is an outlet…someone to commiserate with. Otherwise you are without oxygen. Teresa encouraged me in so many ways with methods, ideas, and materials. She was the reason I didn’t quit on more occasions than I would like to admit.

By the way, make certain you are on good terms with everyone in the department. Making these connections makes it so much easier to steal things. By stealing things, I mean ideas and notebooks and folders of curriculum. Some teachers (the cynics mostly) won’t let you have any of their hard-earned ideas. However, approached in the right manner, most teachers, caring by nature, will allow you to take and copy anything you need. Take full advantage of this. I would not have survived if I only had to build myself my curriculum from college studies. It would have been nearly impossible. So again, approach and be approachable with regards to your teaching materials….