Thoughts On Teaching

I’m teaching three classes this year: 8th Grade English, 9th Grade World Cultures, and History Through Film. The last one is truly an elective for mostly upperclassmen (ironically, there are more girls than guys…so upperclasspeople?). So far, so good. However, I’m coming across a few issues. The first issue is realizing how lacking these kids are in the writing department. Secondly, I am having a tough time making things interesting and still rigorous. Lastly, I created these classes from scratch. It’s a lot of work designing the daily content on the go. The units were created over the summer.

Shifting Skill Sets

I knew kids regressed in all subject areas when I decided to teach again. COVID Era teaching caused some of that. It’s crazy we are already calling it the “COVID Era.” It was just three years ago. Many schools were remote or hybrid. Kids lost a lot of prospective content time in that time period. Their bandwidth shrank. I’m not calling them stupid; let’s be clear. Kids have immense potential and I’m finding amazing students here.

Still, kids were struggling with reading and writing before COVID. I really don’t know if it’s a lack of skill or a lack of effort. I find myself correcting juniors and seniors when it comes to periods and capitalizing proper nouns. I hope it’s simply a lack of skill. I can help fix that. Perhaps they aren’t expecting to be graded on those factors (even though I’ve said I do). In the age of 15-second videos and limited focus, it’s certainly a challenge to teach. 

There are many rules for the comma, so I understand it’ll take time to teach them. I’m beginning with the 8th Graders. I’m teaching the fundamentals: commas, periods, sentence structure, and clauses. Eventually, I’ll introduce the five-paragraph essay. For the juniors and seniors who missed out on their introductory high school experiences with English, it means some backtracking. That’s okay. But I do find it disheartening sometimes. I really hope they leave school with the ability for self advocacy. I also hope they have some small desire to improve their skills.

The educational system is gradually shifting. There’s much less memorization for one. I find the rigor has declined since I was in school. A good lecture can still be useful, but kids are evolving (some would argue devolving). The lesson styles must evolve as well. I still anticipate comprehensive essays, but maybe not in the immediate future. I see the skillset of students changing. They are even wondering why there’s no Home Economics or lessons on how to use a tape measure. Well, the last one was recommended by the maintenance staff.

Maintaining Rigor and Interest

I wonder if rigor and interest can’t intermingle. I’m almost a first year teacher again, diving in after a five year break. I’m biased by my experience. Veteran teachers have their lessons from previous years. They are more comfortable with managing students and finding the sweet spot of rigor and interest. I love what I teach. I believe that the classes I teach should illuminate key skills like public speaking, knowledge of world cultures, and critical thinking. AI offers a lot, but students will need to learn how to decide what is true and what is not.

I’m managing teenagers with an interest in snowsports I don’t share. The challenge is finding passions in common and using those to increase their interest. At the same time, I need to challenge their minds. Sometimes, you can’t have both interest and rigor. At times like those, I prefer rigor. Rigor is what will make them better prepared for the future. There have been several Olympians from CVA. But the vast majority of kids here will go on to other professions. Regardless of their path, I just want to help them feel confident on the way.

Lesson Designing

The first three years of teaching are some of the toughest. This time is where we build our teaching style, design consistent (but updated) lessons, and build a foundation for the career. I certainly feel like a new teacher and not just because it’s a new school. I’ve been out of the game for half a decade, and a lot changed in that time. CVA gave me the previous course outlines and provided the option to make adjustments. I re-shaped the three courses like turning a square into a cube. 

While the units were molded over the summer, I’m now forming the day-to-day lessons. A paper planner is a must. The units and the course descriptions help guide my design work. I know my goal is to prepare these kids for the following classes. Or, in the case of History Through Film, my goal is to enhance their critical thinking and communication before graduation. The planning is usually two weeks ahead of our current situation. But I often find myself erasing it and moving it ahead. A genius idea just entered my head: sticky notes instead of writing it in the planner.

No plan survives first contact with the kids. Today, I introduced 8th Graders to “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe. Admittedly, this is a complex reading. It is also the most difficult I’ll have for these kids. I hope it eases them into further reading of classical work in other classes. It does raise the question: should we still teach the classics? Perhaps another blog post.

The kids read the six page story last night, circling words they didn’t know. I was prepared for them to not understand the story at all. Combined, they seemed to get it together. Montresor was offended by Fortunado and decides to bury him in the catacombs. But in the span of an hour, we read and discussed just two paragraphs together. My lesson plan stated we’d get through a page or more. Whoops! I spent an hour after class adjusting expectations. 

In this case, rigor is the name of the game. The kids seem to be pretty interested, but we’ll see how they are when we’ve gone over the story a few times. This may be their introduction to annotating. The main point focuses on comprehension and analysis. I’m drawing back my own expectations on what we’ll achieve this year. The fundamentals will be key in all my classes, not just 8th Grade English. 

I’m still excited to be back into teaching. I am enjoying it thus far. One aspect I like is the ability to manage the work-life balance. When I had my own business, I was always working. I can keep work in the classroom and focus on my interests at home. Once this year is concluded, I will have a complete set of lesson plans for next year. I am reflecting, as well, on which ones are a great success and those that need a lot of revision. The staff here is supportive, offering me feedback and assistance with my class design. And while kids missed out on school during COVID, we’re working hard to catch them up.