Student Teaching #1

               This semester started off with a bang, and an alarm clock that goes off way too early in the morning.  Since the 2^nd of January I have been getting up and going to work at a place that I am passionate about and learning to teach in the process.  I honestly figured I was in pretty good shape.  I read the material last semester and I spent every waking moment planning for this one.  My CT and I decided that we would co-teach for the first couple of weeks.  Then, as with everything in life, we had to change our plans.  There were the days students were out of class for assemblies and the day they were gone for the career pipeline.  Things happen, and unfortunately my students do have other classes, not to mention a life outside of school.  That being said I have been dealing with the interruptions and adapted my plans accordingly.  My CT and I spend almost the entire day together and every afternoon, during 5^th block, we reflect on my teaching together.  We look at where we were so we can figure out where we are going.  The “theme” here is intentional teaching. 

                Sure, we have all heard the phrase “intentional teaching” thrown around in our classes and in our college texts.  But, does anyone really know how to apply a theory right out of the gate?  I thought I did.  I could have expounded upon the virtues of intentional teaching, multiple intelligences, and student lead learning.  However, until you really put this into practice you have no idea how to do it.  I didn’t.   That being said, the last few weeks have been interesting.

                Earlier this week I had the pleasure of beginning to teach The Great Gatsby, one of my favorite books.  The lesson didn’t go well.  If you’re curious read my blog post from Monday.  My CT and I talked about what happened.  I had planned this for months, but I went in thinking I knew Gatsby.  While I do know the novel extremely well;  It is one of my favorite pieces of American fiction.  That being said, while I know Gatsby, I didn’t know how to teach Gatsby.  It really isn’t that hard to understand now.  I tried to stop every paragraph or so and point out everything, every little detail that makes Gatsby great.  My love for the novel got in the way.

                So what is the fix for this?  It’s easy, really, intentional teaching, patience, and trusting your kids.  I know Gatsby and I knew what I wanted to say, but I needed to be patient, let the novel unfold naturally.  You can’t force this type of thing.  And finally, trust that your kids are smarter than anyone, even their parents, gives them credit for.  I went back to my plans and my scripts and looked at where I was, where I had been (that was painful since I have a recording of it), and where I needed to go.  I looked back at my novel and used sticky notes to force me to stop and then let go.

                So to the brass tacks, I went through the rest of chapter 1 and every three pages or so, there is no hard and fast rule here, I looked for natural breaks in the narrative.  I put post it notes there.  I went through my script and divided it to match my post its.  So during teaching today I let go and let the kids read and explore the novel.  I stopped them every post it note and went back and pointed out the major characters, points that needed pointing out, symbol’s, misogynistic racist jerks, the important things.  And it went beautifully. 

               I have said before that as English majors we have seen hundreds of novels taught over the years.  We should know how to “do this” like nothing else.  I was wrong.  I’m not afraid to admit it, but I would be afraid to go back to the way I thought we should teach a novel last Monday morning.  It’s a process, student teaching.  Teach, learn, adapt, and be truly intentional.