One of the details that wasn't discussed in my 30-minute, life-altering interview in Iowa was the fact that at AISC, teachers co-teach. The idea is that by keeping classroom numbers low, and then sticking another teacher in there for the Reading & Writing block, kids can get really intensive support in learning the English language. If you ask me, it's a little bit of overkill. I mean, yesterday, there were three of us (including my TA, who since I don't know how to really utilize her that well, just kind of stands around waiting for me to think of something...which rarely happens) walking around, lurking really, while the kids were reading silently. It was weird. But the other thing about having a co-teacher, is that it's one of those "too many cooks in the kitchen" types of things, and it can potentially lead to crises, such as the one that was averted today.
So, when I got here, it wasn't long before we learned (well, I learned anyway) that we'd be teamed up with a co-teacher for the 1.5 hour block, and then a few spelling periods in between (where my teaching partner and I share her). The only other times that I've team taught were back in the LUSD days, where I "team taught" three times. How many of those were disasters? Yep. Two of them were with two women who can be rather unpleasant at times (only LUSD teachers REALLY in-the-know will remember who they were) and the other time was with my buddy, Larry Dextraze. Now, I won't try to describe here who Larry is and what he's all about, but I will say that he and I go pretty far back. He and I both started teaching at the same time and share many debaucherous memories from back when I was living in the Douglas Road house. Anyway, I'll leave it at that, but the story I wanted to briefly share was when he and I were team teaching. So, rather than utilize both teachers to, say, work with smaller groups, what Larry and I did was take turns teaching the whole class, rendering the whole point of "co-teaching" completely useless. He'd teach for an hour while I sat in the back biting my fist, and then as soon as it was my turn, I'd jump in and teach while he sat powerlessly in the back of the room seething because he didn't like the way I was teaching and wanted to be up there instead. It was a disaster, and in the end, we almost ended our friendship over it. We were both so big-headed that we thought the other one was horrible and that we were superior. In the end, I'm sure we both sucked, but at least we got through the summer without getting into a fist fight.
But it doesn't stop there because truly, my last co-teaching experience was in Medellin, which also ended horribly. At the Columbus School, I was partnered not so much with a co-teacher per se, rather a young, inexperienced Colombian woman who'd come into MY classroom and "teach" MY kids for an hour and a half every day. Basically, what it looked like was this fool basically bullshitting and doing all of this "feel good" crap with the kids, who were barely even paying attention because they were too busy rolling around on the floor, playing with each other's hair, laughing, screaming, and yelling, etc. I'd sit there at my computer glaring at all of them (and her especially) the ENTIRE time, and as soon as she left, I'd rip into them for their bad behavior. Looking back, I feel bad because it really wasn't their fault. If I were them, I would've played Colombian grab-ass too, but it just infuriated me how I'd worked so hard to get them in line and then when she'd come, they'd screw around the entire time. Well, it got to the point where it was so bad that I actually had to sit down with her and the elementary school principal vice-principal (who was Colombian herself) and try to "work it out." That didn't end well. The whole time, she defended her while the teacher sat there and cried. They made me out to be the big, bad bully, and me, not having it, got really defensive and accused the principal lady of picking sides. I think she actually ended up calling off the meeting because it was clear that it wasn't going anywhere. So yeah, those were all of my co-teaching experiences, and I'm SURE none of these conflicts had anything to do with me...
Fast forward to now, and I find myself in a similar situation. I'm partnered up with a younger Indian woman who I don't think has much experience teaching at this level. On a personal level, we've gotten along really well. However, once we got into the classroom and had to start teaching, things started getting a little dicey. Here's the situation: she's an EAL (English as an Additional Language) teacher, meaning, she's there to support the kids and me during the language arts block. What, exactly, her role is hasn't been clearly defined. so that's part of the problem. The other part of the problem is that the "Reader's Workshop" program is new to us both. So, yesterday, when we sat down to do the first "mini lesson," things didn't go so well. The lesson that we had to do was pretty lame from the start, but add to that two people who aren't really comfortable teaching this way, and then the awkward dynamic of both kind of jockeying for attention, and you've got a tense situation. To make matters more complicated, I'm the joker and the one who makes kids laugh (mostly because nobody knows what I'm going to say or do next, and that includes me), while she's kind of "that lady" who is clearly a little uncomfortable in her new role. Like I said, the lesson went pretty horribly, but for me, when it was over, I at least had the rest of the day to redeem myself. I'm not sure I've made it clear enough, but to any of you who've taught, this is an uncomfortable situation. I mean, for all intents and purposes, this is MY classroom and these are MY kids, who I'm basically having to share with another teacher for a couple of hours a day. And like I said, I don't think this extra teacher is even necessary, but it's a decision admin has made and I'm not going to argue with it.
After the lesson was over and she had left, I immediately started thinking, "Oh shit. Is this going to be another TCK/Colombia experience? Am I going to end up going toe-to-toe with her and is this going to end badly?" I was pretty worked up for the ret of the day, and me being me, I played out all sorts of worst-case scenarios. I mean, here I am on day two, and I'm already having horrible thoughts of what's to come. So this morning, when she came in and we needed to plan together, I had a list of notes about things I wanted to discuss with her regarding the lesson and the way things work in the classroom. However, I had forgotten that it was actually a "triad" meeting (with the third teacher who I share my EAL teacher with). In the end, this was a really good thing because she unknowingly served as a great buffer. We had a really positive meeting where I was able to subtly voice some of my concerns with the program (and not make it personal). We had a nice chat and made some good progress, and in the end, both of us discussed some of our feelings. When Becky (the other teacher) left, the two of us planned a pretty good lesson for the day and made sure that it was something the kids would enjoy (and they did). I put on some Jack Johnson in the background, and we both milled around helping out the kids with their work and having a good time. Crisis averted (for now).
On another note, three days in and my class has gotten SASSY! I have nobody to blame but myself, but really, it's not a problem for me. Remember, for the past decade or so, I've filled the role of "scary guy," so it's a nice change of pace for the kids to not really be scared of me (at all). That's not how I wanted to approach this year, and it's certainly not an acceptable relationship for me to have at a school where the kids really are SUPER well behaved and also a place where families are paying top-dollar for their kids' educations. So yeah, I wouldn't consider it a problem right now, particularly because I think if it got to that point, I could pretty easily pull a kid or two aside and let them know that it wasn't working for me. How did they get this way? Well, I don't think they had ever planned on being this way when they came in. I think they came to me pretty quiet, reserved, etc., but after spending a few days with me, they've seen that they can challenge me a little bit. Like, today, when I told them we were going to play a game to determine whether they'd have homework for the night, I told them they had two choices: 1) I give them homework or 2) They play "a game" to determine whether they GET homework. Of course, they chose option number two. So then, I told them that only one kid could play, and that he/she would be representing the entire class. This one kid, Tejas, raises his hand and takes the challenge. I take a piece of paper and write the number 245,638 on it. I then tell him that he has to guess a number between 1-1,000,000 and if he gets it wrong, they all have homework. Uproar!! All of the kids are jumping out of their seats, arguing with me about how it's not fair, and then I engage them about how it was THEM who chose option number two! So then one particularly vocal French girl starts yelling about how he should get to ask me 20 questions, so we haggled it down to three (which isn't nearly enough). But of course, he still ended up losing. Did I really end up giving them homework? Of course not, but this was probably about the 20th time that I've played a trick on them that has ended up with loud voices and mild chaos in the room. I should probably stop, but it's just so funny to me. I like them being vocal and challenging me. It's good to get them a little bit riled up, and even though they argue vehemently, we all laugh about it in the end. So for now, we'll see how it goes. I don't think it's an issue of them not respecting me, but probably more of a "taunting big brother" relationship for a lot of them. I do have my times when I'm serious with them, and they really are pretty attentive and participatory, but I guess that somehow, I'm trying to make up with humor for the fact that I have pretty much no idea how their academic day is supposed to run because I'm so inundated with having to learn five sets of new curriculum. Total coping strategy, but again, I think it'll all work out. These kids have been brought up to respect their teachers, so I think that they'll be pretty easy to reign in if need be. For now, it's nice to take on a different role, and I like that they're not scared of me. If only they knew that they were talking back to the infamous Mr. Knight of TCK...wow, they have no idea.
Alright, I'm signing off. I'm tired from night number two of Sudarshan Kriya. I'm gonna sleep like a baby, but like usual, be WIDE awake by six because of the horrible birds outside of my window. Oh well, whaddya gonna do?
Ben
So, when I got here, it wasn't long before we learned (well, I learned anyway) that we'd be teamed up with a co-teacher for the 1.5 hour block, and then a few spelling periods in between (where my teaching partner and I share her). The only other times that I've team taught were back in the LUSD days, where I "team taught" three times. How many of those were disasters? Yep. Two of them were with two women who can be rather unpleasant at times (only LUSD teachers REALLY in-the-know will remember who they were) and the other time was with my buddy, Larry Dextraze. Now, I won't try to describe here who Larry is and what he's all about, but I will say that he and I go pretty far back. He and I both started teaching at the same time and share many debaucherous memories from back when I was living in the Douglas Road house. Anyway, I'll leave it at that, but the story I wanted to briefly share was when he and I were team teaching. So, rather than utilize both teachers to, say, work with smaller groups, what Larry and I did was take turns teaching the whole class, rendering the whole point of "co-teaching" completely useless. He'd teach for an hour while I sat in the back biting my fist, and then as soon as it was my turn, I'd jump in and teach while he sat powerlessly in the back of the room seething because he didn't like the way I was teaching and wanted to be up there instead. It was a disaster, and in the end, we almost ended our friendship over it. We were both so big-headed that we thought the other one was horrible and that we were superior. In the end, I'm sure we both sucked, but at least we got through the summer without getting into a fist fight.
But it doesn't stop there because truly, my last co-teaching experience was in Medellin, which also ended horribly. At the Columbus School, I was partnered not so much with a co-teacher per se, rather a young, inexperienced Colombian woman who'd come into MY classroom and "teach" MY kids for an hour and a half every day. Basically, what it looked like was this fool basically bullshitting and doing all of this "feel good" crap with the kids, who were barely even paying attention because they were too busy rolling around on the floor, playing with each other's hair, laughing, screaming, and yelling, etc. I'd sit there at my computer glaring at all of them (and her especially) the ENTIRE time, and as soon as she left, I'd rip into them for their bad behavior. Looking back, I feel bad because it really wasn't their fault. If I were them, I would've played Colombian grab-ass too, but it just infuriated me how I'd worked so hard to get them in line and then when she'd come, they'd screw around the entire time. Well, it got to the point where it was so bad that I actually had to sit down with her and the elementary school principal vice-principal (who was Colombian herself) and try to "work it out." That didn't end well. The whole time, she defended her while the teacher sat there and cried. They made me out to be the big, bad bully, and me, not having it, got really defensive and accused the principal lady of picking sides. I think she actually ended up calling off the meeting because it was clear that it wasn't going anywhere. So yeah, those were all of my co-teaching experiences, and I'm SURE none of these conflicts had anything to do with me...
Fast forward to now, and I find myself in a similar situation. I'm partnered up with a younger Indian woman who I don't think has much experience teaching at this level. On a personal level, we've gotten along really well. However, once we got into the classroom and had to start teaching, things started getting a little dicey. Here's the situation: she's an EAL (English as an Additional Language) teacher, meaning, she's there to support the kids and me during the language arts block. What, exactly, her role is hasn't been clearly defined. so that's part of the problem. The other part of the problem is that the "Reader's Workshop" program is new to us both. So, yesterday, when we sat down to do the first "mini lesson," things didn't go so well. The lesson that we had to do was pretty lame from the start, but add to that two people who aren't really comfortable teaching this way, and then the awkward dynamic of both kind of jockeying for attention, and you've got a tense situation. To make matters more complicated, I'm the joker and the one who makes kids laugh (mostly because nobody knows what I'm going to say or do next, and that includes me), while she's kind of "that lady" who is clearly a little uncomfortable in her new role. Like I said, the lesson went pretty horribly, but for me, when it was over, I at least had the rest of the day to redeem myself. I'm not sure I've made it clear enough, but to any of you who've taught, this is an uncomfortable situation. I mean, for all intents and purposes, this is MY classroom and these are MY kids, who I'm basically having to share with another teacher for a couple of hours a day. And like I said, I don't think this extra teacher is even necessary, but it's a decision admin has made and I'm not going to argue with it.
After the lesson was over and she had left, I immediately started thinking, "Oh shit. Is this going to be another TCK/Colombia experience? Am I going to end up going toe-to-toe with her and is this going to end badly?" I was pretty worked up for the ret of the day, and me being me, I played out all sorts of worst-case scenarios. I mean, here I am on day two, and I'm already having horrible thoughts of what's to come. So this morning, when she came in and we needed to plan together, I had a list of notes about things I wanted to discuss with her regarding the lesson and the way things work in the classroom. However, I had forgotten that it was actually a "triad" meeting (with the third teacher who I share my EAL teacher with). In the end, this was a really good thing because she unknowingly served as a great buffer. We had a really positive meeting where I was able to subtly voice some of my concerns with the program (and not make it personal). We had a nice chat and made some good progress, and in the end, both of us discussed some of our feelings. When Becky (the other teacher) left, the two of us planned a pretty good lesson for the day and made sure that it was something the kids would enjoy (and they did). I put on some Jack Johnson in the background, and we both milled around helping out the kids with their work and having a good time. Crisis averted (for now).
On another note, three days in and my class has gotten SASSY! I have nobody to blame but myself, but really, it's not a problem for me. Remember, for the past decade or so, I've filled the role of "scary guy," so it's a nice change of pace for the kids to not really be scared of me (at all). That's not how I wanted to approach this year, and it's certainly not an acceptable relationship for me to have at a school where the kids really are SUPER well behaved and also a place where families are paying top-dollar for their kids' educations. So yeah, I wouldn't consider it a problem right now, particularly because I think if it got to that point, I could pretty easily pull a kid or two aside and let them know that it wasn't working for me. How did they get this way? Well, I don't think they had ever planned on being this way when they came in. I think they came to me pretty quiet, reserved, etc., but after spending a few days with me, they've seen that they can challenge me a little bit. Like, today, when I told them we were going to play a game to determine whether they'd have homework for the night, I told them they had two choices: 1) I give them homework or 2) They play "a game" to determine whether they GET homework. Of course, they chose option number two. So then, I told them that only one kid could play, and that he/she would be representing the entire class. This one kid, Tejas, raises his hand and takes the challenge. I take a piece of paper and write the number 245,638 on it. I then tell him that he has to guess a number between 1-1,000,000 and if he gets it wrong, they all have homework. Uproar!! All of the kids are jumping out of their seats, arguing with me about how it's not fair, and then I engage them about how it was THEM who chose option number two! So then one particularly vocal French girl starts yelling about how he should get to ask me 20 questions, so we haggled it down to three (which isn't nearly enough). But of course, he still ended up losing. Did I really end up giving them homework? Of course not, but this was probably about the 20th time that I've played a trick on them that has ended up with loud voices and mild chaos in the room. I should probably stop, but it's just so funny to me. I like them being vocal and challenging me. It's good to get them a little bit riled up, and even though they argue vehemently, we all laugh about it in the end. So for now, we'll see how it goes. I don't think it's an issue of them not respecting me, but probably more of a "taunting big brother" relationship for a lot of them. I do have my times when I'm serious with them, and they really are pretty attentive and participatory, but I guess that somehow, I'm trying to make up with humor for the fact that I have pretty much no idea how their academic day is supposed to run because I'm so inundated with having to learn five sets of new curriculum. Total coping strategy, but again, I think it'll all work out. These kids have been brought up to respect their teachers, so I think that they'll be pretty easy to reign in if need be. For now, it's nice to take on a different role, and I like that they're not scared of me. If only they knew that they were talking back to the infamous Mr. Knight of TCK...wow, they have no idea.
Alright, I'm signing off. I'm tired from night number two of Sudarshan Kriya. I'm gonna sleep like a baby, but like usual, be WIDE awake by six because of the horrible birds outside of my window. Oh well, whaddya gonna do?
Ben
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