Posts Tagged ‘journal’
Part One of Four in my series on my two master teachers.
One master teacher is authoritarian. She expects a lot accomplished, and a lot of planning for lessons. Teaching is her second — third? fourth? fifteenth? — career.
She expects me to master every classroom system she’s established over her 16-odd years, every slightest procedure.
Journal every day; while you take attendance. Quizzes every Thursday. Detentions for tardies and absences. Extra credit for Kleenex.
She mentors student teachers every spring.
I met her last spring while working off my observation hours as a sub. As I passed through the hallway, I noticed a former editor of mine from my school newspaper.
I stopped by to say hello, and I was introduced to my friend’s then-current master teacher and my future one. Once I got to know my master teacher better, we discovered that I had met her husband from her first, only and current marriage — an August-September romance — through a previous short-term radio gig at the same college.
Small world.
This master teacher criticizes, scrutinizes, prosyltizes. She isn’t worried about my ability to talk. She’s worried about my ability to teach, though she’s worried less and less.
I’ve gotten better, and still I have a long way to go.
In an effort to get as much link to this blog as possible, I posted a new, rare entry on my old Xanga blog. Before I got around to posting a new post, it turns out that the most recent one was about calling my mom on her birthday.
For context: My mom’s birthday is also Valentine’s Day, which makes it just about a year since I had posted last.
I read this again while in the grips of nostalgia and almost immediately wished I hadn’t. It’s funny how it’s so easy to forget old bitternesses and how easily they come back to you. If I were looking at this from a purely academic standpoint, it’d be interesting to see how much — or how little — changes in a year’s time.
The old post reads, in part:
I don’t talk to her much, if at all. I will return phone calls once, and I’ll see her when I’m already in town. The worst part is that I am the person in our family who treats her with the most respect. For some reason, I still hold my grudges against her, because I am a self-important bastard. Because I know I’m right, I don’t care what anyone thinks about what I say.
But today is her birthday.
And because it’s her birthday, I called her this afternoon. She wasn’t there. She was out with her mother, my grandmother. The mean one, for those of you keeping track. I left a bored message for her at the phone, with a return number. I knew that doing this would make her day, and was more valuable than anything else I could give her.
Once she calls back:
“Your sister really respects you.” It came out of nowhere. I hesitated. After a brief pause, I knew I had to say something, anything.
“I’m glad she thinks that.”
“She said you’re wicked smart. Isn’t that a funny phrase?” She told me how Hannah just helped her put together an email account, and asked for my email. She also asked me for my phone number. She had lost it since I gave it to her last. She always loses it.
“You know, we have to go out sometime on Valentine’s Day someday, if you don’t already have a girlfriend. Just you and me.”
I don’t remember what exactly she said from there. I just remember that — for whatever reason — I cried. I’m not ashamed to admit it.
“That would be fun, Mom.” We made arrangements to talk every other Thursday. She’ll probably forget. She always does.
I hope she doesn’t.
She did.
First Five Minutes of Class
April 7, 2008 in The Way It Were
Tags: amendment, black, class, classroom, cnn, comments, crazy, culled, establishment, first, five, government, history, journal, management, minutes, obama, packet, pastor, preacher, quiz, relevant, religion, sciences, snagged, social, studies, thursday, white
Good morning, class. I know that it’s a pleasure for me to see each and every one of you, but I know it’s even more of a pleasure for each and every one of you to see me.
Don’t forget that on the board is today’s journal. I’ll read the prompt:
Continue writing if you haven’t finished your journal already.
Be sure to pick up this week’s packet. Don’t forget that to more than one point on Thursday’s quiz, you must turn in this packet completed. For every opinion article in this packet, remember your Read and Response. For those of you who are new, that requires you to write one paragraph summary and one paragraph reaction. Easy cheesy.
One of the columns is about Martin Luther King, Jr., and is especially appropriate as we begin our week studying the Civil Rights movement and the development of its constitutional basis. We’ll segue into this movement using a fiery pastor with ties to Barack Obama and a discussion of both their free speech and free religion.
I’ll be passing out actual responses to the sermon I culled — that means “snagged” — from comments at CNN.com. If you get one, you’ll get to read it aloud. Be sure you act it out passionately, as if you actually believe it. That way we get the real feeling of what that person is saying.
Say, for example, you get this:
If you’re mumble and monotone when you read it aloud, I’ll make sure you have to get up and do it again. Raise your hand if you’d like to volunteer. Okay, that looks good.
Just a hint: You should probably read it while we wait for the last few people to finish their journal. You’ll have a little bit of time to prepare while we watch and discuss the six-second soundbite version of the sermon. Depending on your quote, you’ll go before or after we watch the seven-minute version of the same sermon and discuss it.
Before we get to that, go ahead and take a minute or two finishing up your journal. I’ll pass out the comment slips, and finish getting set up.
I’ll be here if you have any questions.
****
In other news: George Washington is just too vulgar for school, sometimes; same with JFK.