Category Archives: Creating Classroom Community

The most “dangerous” profession……..A middle school teacher

Creating Classroom Community, Urban Adolescents

“You go home exhausted, wondering why you ever chose teaching as a career. The next day you’re back in the classroom and you’re soaring. You feel that you could teach forever. Teaching middle schoolers is not an easy trip, but the ride is exhilarating.”-Brown & Knowles (2007). You want to be What?

I think the authors when they wrote this quote had me in mind because it perfectly describes how I have been feeling since I started student teaching Spanish to 6th graders and working in a middle school for the first time ever. Teaching middle schoolers is not and I mean is not an easy job. I always thought I was never cut out to be a middle school teacher because as this chapter already mentioned teenagers between the ages 12-14 are impossible to deal with in the classroom. I totally remember being at that growing pain stage of adolescence and it was rough as a student so I couldn’t possibly imagine going through that as a teacher.

However, since September I have grown to love my status as a middle school Spanish teacher because I can see these students are most vulnerable and need that unconditional support from adults to help guide them through the daily ups and downs of adolescence. I am that person who is willing to listen and not make quick judgements before everything is laid out on the table, so to speak. I think I could be that advocate for these teenagers and it is unfortunate how so many teachers aren’t willing to take on this type of  position nor trained to deal with these types of situations.

At the end of Brown & Knowles’ chapter, they posed 3 questions: What questions or concerns do you have about young adolescents or the structure of the middle school?; What questions or concerns do you have about being a middle school teacher?; What do you think is the most important thing a middle school student can do or learn in school?

I guess to answer the last question which is supposedly the basis of your teaching philosophy is to have middle schoolers learn and understand that they aren’t alone and that they shouldn’t be afraid to come to me with any questions they may have whether it is related to Spanish or not. I worry more for the emotional intelligence in my middle schoolers and instilling empathy more so than them understanding and getting the content because it goes back to that simple statement where if a teacher isn’t emotionally invested in the well-being of the student, then they can forget about trying to get the student to learn because what matters most to students is seeing and witnessing that unconditional support from their teachers.

Teaching Empathy and Grand Questions

Creating Classroom Community, Culturally, Linguistically, and Socioeconomically Diverse Adolescents in Urban Contexts: Framing the Conversation

 

“Texts that are connected to ‘real and imagined material and social worlds’ (Gee, 2001, p. 716) include the type that many readers have always found appealing: powerfully engaging narratives. Engaging with a compelling narrative is what Morrison (1994) called “radical, creating us at the very moment it is being created” (p. 27). Readers can thus be transformed by their encounters with a story in ways that can alter habits of thinking or living. Consequently, a narrative in the form of a graphic novel can potentially influence students’ lives. Reading these powerful narratives gives students a sense of ownership over these texts through their intellectual and emotional engagement with them.” (from Chun, 2009)

This segment stood out to me in that it touched on two crucial elements especially evident in socially conscious graphic novels. These books elevate students’ understanding of the larger world, as well as engaging them in connecting stories to their own lives. Continue reading Teaching Empathy and Grand Questions →

Let young adolescents be themselves

Biological & Cognitive Development in Adolescence, Creating Classroom Community, Socioemotional and Psychological Development in Adolescence, Urban Adolescents

“Unlike their high school counterparts, young adolescents haven’t yet gone underground with their experiments in who they want to be and how they want to behave. They try out the possibilities like actors improvising on a public stage, taking first one role and then another. They are still playing with lots of possible selves.” (Cushman, K., & Rogers, L. 2008, P14)
This is so true, and I like the last sentence “They are still playing with lots of possible selves” in particular. Young adolescents haven’t completely figured out what they want to be, what they want to do or how they want to behave because they are still going through a phase where they experience dramatic physical changes, amplified feelings and expanding minds so that they can act very differently when they are being different selves. The most important thing is that in this special stage, every “self” is extremely easily influenced by their peers, usually in bad ways. Continue reading Let young adolescents be themselves →

Playing Favorites vs Playing to Win

Creating Classroom Community, Reaching Adolescents and How to Respond

“It’s not as important for a teacher to like the students as it is for the students to think the teacher likes them. Students feel more comfortable and motivated in classes where they think the teacher likes them.” – Daryl

“I would rather not know if I’m a teacher’s favorite. It puts me in a weird position. When we’re having a test or something, other students will come up to me and say, ‘Why don’t you ask if we can not have it – she likes you.'” – Tiffany  (Respect, Liking, Trust, and Fairness, Cushman)

It’s important to praise students for their accomplishments and push them to their highest potential. But what’s equally as important is that teachers do this for all of their students, not just the ones who are easy to praise and immediately responsive to encouragement and challenges.

Continue reading Playing Favorites vs Playing to Win →

Create an environment that helps

Creating Classroom Community

“Their (Young adolescents) social and emotional actions can range from childlike behaviors to adult perceptions… Young adolescents are making transition from the dependence to the childhood to the dependence to the adulthood. They are moving from the safety and security of their families to the insecurity of finding a place in the adult world.” — Brown & Knowles (2007).

Response: Sometimes we adults may think adolescents are consistently changing, nothing could satisfy them. I think it may because they are going through the transition from the childhood to adulthood and trying hard to look for a place for themselves and fit in our world. School is a place to help them to successfully go though this transition. Our personal characteristics as a teacher and professional knowledge are important components to help adolescent learners to achieve success.