Keythe+Ballenger

I wonder how many of the words I spoke will be remembered by my students when I'm gone. "Shh," will probably be the thing I said most often. 6th graders are such a chatty bunch, especially after lunch on Fridays. "Are you listening?" would have to qualify a close second. Shuffling of papers as homework is passed to the front creates quite a noise. A phrase popular with the students was, "Is 'soon' a verb? Can you 'soon' this stool?" This was in connection with identifying helping and linking verbs. Too often an adverb would be mistaken for a verb, so I had to find a way to impress upon them that verbs and adverbs were two different animals. It never failed to get a few giggles. Lining up to go to lunch provided its own entertainment. Students who normally kept their hands to themselves suddenly could not resist the urge to reestablish a physical connection with their peers. "Gentlemen, don't touch." I would tell several boys as they pushed and shoved each other along the way. The one phrase, though, that I hope my students carry with them is "Don't work for free." My supervisor would remind me to make connections between the students and the work they do, and this was the first connection I could make. See, my 6th graders, and I'm sure mine aren't the only ones, have a habit of failing to write their name on their work when they turn it in. Such a bad habit is unhealthy for everyone involved. The teacher gets frustrated trying to determine who the work belongs to, students get frustrated because they don't get credit for their work, and parents get frustrated because their child got a 0 for an assignment. Rather than go through the headache, I decided to tell my students that the work they did now was the equivalent of a paycheck in the future. This got their attention. I explained that when they got older and had jobs, they would be paid for their work. Unless they were volunteering for a cause, it was not usually wise to work for free. If a person does a job and spends his or her time and energy to do the job, then he or she should be compensated appropriately. Those of us who have jobs now could not imagine working without a paycheck to look forward to, and I explained this to my students also. I asked them why would they spend all the time on the worksheets and such without wanting to get paid for their time? It wasn't a total and complete success, but the frequency of papers with no name dropped dramatically. Two weeks from now my students may not even remember my name. I am hopeful, however, that they remember to not work for free.
 * Genre Reflection 3**


 * Genre Reflection 2 "Musings"**

As I begin my second full week of solo teaching, I look further ahead towards the end of my field experience. I ask myself if I have taught my students properly, have I provided them with enough information, have they actually learned? There is praise from my supervisor after her recent observation; she fees that I have what it takes to be a successful teacher. My CT is satisfied that I have done what I am supposed to; she is not one to praise often, so I assume that I haven't failed yet. The students smile and wave at me in the hallways. "Hey, Mr. B! Are you going to be with us all year?" one student asks. "No," I respond. "I'm only going to be here for a few more weeks." The student's face is crestfallen as we walks away.

I keep the classroom going with humor when it seems everyone is starting to drag. During one silent reading time, a student sneezes three times in a row. I look towards her, saying "There's no sneezing in baseball." Confusion surfaces on her face. "But this isn't baseball," she replies. "It isn't?" I ask, sounding surprised,"Then sneeze all you like." Giggles bubble around the room, and the student grins as she turns back to her reading. I have made connections with my students, then.

One day my CT and I were deciding who would teach the daily oral language lesson when the decision was made for us. I usually teach the first two periods and observe the next two, so I was not new to this class, but I had not taught in it. One student who was listening to the conversation between my CT and me spoke up, "Let him teach it!" My CT looked up and said, "You guys want Mr. B to teach today?" There was a chorus of "Yeah!" from the room. The people have spoken. When it came time for the students to share their work out loud, every hand was raised. But did I teach them, did they //learn//?

I have been here only three weeks, but I care about the success of each of these students. Every poor grade on a homework assignment feels personal. Was it my fault? Could I have done something better? Every high score on a quiz is a tempered success. Do they really know the material, or did they guess right?

Unlike many of my peers, I am not mistaken for a lost student when seen in the halls. Frazzled-looking teachers nod in greeting as they pass me, students veer quickly to the side of the hall so as not to bump into me, the secretary at the front desk smiles warmly each day as she hands me a sticker that declares me a "VISITOR." I don't need it, though. I wear it because I'm supposed to, but even the building itself knows I belong.

I am in front of the classroom one morning last week, waiting for homeroom to start. My hands are in my pockets and I lean casually against the desk behind me. Two students are sitting in the front row, chatting, when one stops to consider me for a moment. "Mr. B?" she asks. I look at her. "Yes, ma'am?" If nothing else, my students have learned that to get respect you give respect. Whether I know a student's name or not, "ma'am" or "sir" is usually a part of the conversation when I speak to them. "Are you going to teach here next year?" Most of the class is still filtering in to their seats, but the students sitting in the front, close the student asking the question, pause to look at me. "Well," I respond. "If the school is hiring, I would certainly be interested in applying for a job here." I'm confused about her question. "You //have// to teach here next year so you can be our 7th grade English teacher!" I'm almost tempted to send her to the office to speak to the Principal on my behalf.


 * Genre Reflection 1 "Fibonacci Poem"**

Young Minds Waiting To be filled; Another day comes And a stranger stands in the front.

New Walls, New smells. Suddenly, Here come //my// students; My calling has found me at last.

Long Drive Each day. Now I know Why I have done it- They are each an inspiration.

I Will Teach A Lesson On  Bullying in class. Hope I get it right the first time.

The poems above are called Fibonacci poems, a relatively new style of poetry that mixes math and poetry to form a uniquely shaped stanza. Similar to Haiku, Fib poems have a specific sequence that must be followed, which matches the Fibonacci sequence of 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and so on. In the poems I wrote here, the sequence is followed according to syllables in each line, but the poems can also be written according to how many words are in each line. Generally speaking, Fib poems tend to stay around 6 lines long since the sequence gets quite large very quickly. The sequence is created by taking a number, adding it to the previous number to create a new number, and then adding that number to its previous number, and so on. For example, 0+1=1, 1+1=2, 2+1=3, 3+2=5, 5+3=8, etc.

The reason I chose this style of poetry is because my class at school has used these recently and I was unfamiliar with this form. The content of some of these poems was pretty interesting, particularly for a group of 6th graders. I thought I would practice a few here and post the results while giving you guys a sense of my first week in the field. If you are doing a writing assignment which includes poetry, consider introducing this style. Though more restrictive than most other types of poetry, at least in terms of sequence, it can be lots of fun to see how the students work around the limitations.