Sunday's train of thought

This past weekend, my host family took the other student teacher staying here and me with them to visit their two college-aged kids on Sunday at the University of Florida.  While we there, we hung out at their son's apartment and went to a girls’ lacrosse game (the Gators crushed the other team, by the way).  It was a blast; the weather was nice enough for me to get a little sunburned, the game was great, I loved hanging out with the other kids in the family and every time the Gators scored they did a free tee shirt toss!  But looking around, seeing all the UF colors and the boys hanging on the rail with their orange and blue wigs and body paint (no joke) made my friend and I realize how weird it is not to be on a college campus.  I mean, it’s basically like we’ve already graduated, which is both cool and strange at the same time.

It didn’t hit me until I was actually on a university campus, but I do miss the college atmosphere a little bit.  Don’t get me wrong, I love where I am now and am still so glad I did this program.  It’s just so different living with a family and going to a high school every day as opposed to being around all my peers in an apartment or in campus buildings.  Friends aren’t a 3 minute walk across a parking lot or through the student center, and I can’t exactly go to campus events like sports games and CAB events.  It's a completely different environment.  I don't feel like I'm missing out by being here or wish I was there (honestly, all that university togetherness probably would have driven me nuts!), but I also didn't realize how bizarre it felt not being on a college campus, since that's where I spent the last 3 and a half years of my life.  It makes me wonder if it will feel this strange when I graduate?  It's an interesting thought that I don't really have an answer to.  

Of course, while I'm here, I can distract myself from musings about my future and what-ifs with sun, endless writing of lesson plans, and weekend adventures, and it's all good from there!

The Case of the Missing Table

Yesterday was one of those rough days where it’s totally acceptable to go home and pout for an hour to recover.  I mean, when the phrase “and the cockroach was the highlight,” comes out of your mouth, it's a pretty safe bet that you don't want to sit through the rest.  But (apparently) one of the biggest issues from yesterday was: the missing table.

First, you’ll need some background.  Last Thursday, before the long weekend (we had off Friday instead of President’s Day), we had a substitute teacher in for my mentor teacher.  So when we were ready to leave for the day a custodian came and locked the door for us since neither of us get keys, and everything was present and accounted for in the room.  This includes a long table in front of the white board that holds a (broken) stereo and some tape recorders.  I've never seen anyone actively use this table, save for the one time I put my computer on it during a lesson.  I'm pretty sure we all just forget it's there.

So imagine my confusion when I walk yesterday morning and the first thing my mentor teacher says to me is, “Hi, where is my table?”

It was a Monday morning, I was tired from not sleeping well the night before, and hadn’t had an ounce of caffeine yet, so not only had I walked past that section of the room without even noticing the table was gone, but it took me a good thirty seconds to realize she was accusing me of taking her table out of the room.

You might be thinking hey, accuse is a little harsh, it sounds like she was just asking!  But then she asked me twice more, even after I explained to her several times that everything had been in the room when I left on Thursday and I had no idea where her table was.  She told me that she wanted to yell at me when she first came in, and was waiting and waiting for me to walk in so she could jump on me about it.

We then proceeded to wonder and lament about the missing table.  All.  Day.  After school, she hunted down the custodian and left almost an hour later than she had planned because she was trying to track it down.

My question was, what’s the big deal?  Yeah, it’s weird that it’s gone and rude that someone would just take it.  But was it really that pressing?  It’s not like it had much of a purpose, I’ve never seen her actually use it.  We had students yelling over each other, kids not doing projects or turning in homework, and no functioning Internet, but by George we were going to find that table!

And in case you’re wondering (because let’s be honest, I know you’re all just dying of curiosity), it is now Tuesday and there’s still no table.

My five minute soap box

I'm going to use this post to have an I'm an Idealistic College Student and This Is How I Think These Things Should Be moment.

One of the assignments I have in connection to this field experience is to interview two of my students.  We weren't given questions, only the very broad guideline that it should be 10-15 minutes long and that we'd have to write a reflection on it.  I gave fairly basic questions, but the answers I got were anything but simple.

Two of my questions involved the students' opinions about the school: "Do you feel that your teachers care about/support you?"  and "If you could change one thing about your school, what would it be?"  And these questions led to comments indicating that many teachers these students have play favorites, don't seem to care about the education of their students (isn't that kind of the point??), blow students off, yell past the point of being constructive, and don't fairly enforce school rules.

One student's response was that she'd change the disciplinary system.  When I asked her to explain, she said that students tend to get away with big things (like being caught with drugs and being punished with a day of suspension) and little things being blown out of proportion.  She also alluded to the fact that students with money tend to have their disciplinary problems go away a lot more easily.  This is ridiculous to me; what are we teaching these students?  Basically that being responsible for your actions is something of the past, and that if you have a little money or are buddies with administration then consequences don't matter.

The other student named the way some teachers treat students as his change.  He told me that he hates his English class, not because of the content, but because the teacher doesn't seem to care and likes to yell and "get in students' faces" all the time.  He told me that he's had teachers tell him they were too busy or didn't have time to help him when he asked a question.  He then told me that his Spanish teacher (my mentor teacher) would stop grading or whatever she was doing to just have conversations with him in Spanish after school if he asked, and he spoke about this like it was the most monumental and amazing thing in the world.

This made me so sad.  A teacher taking time to talk to a student or answer a question should be the norn, not the exception.  I know that sometimes grading or meetings take priority, but the students should never feel like they are being blown off or ignored.  To me that's one of the main principles of teaching: investing our time in the education and betterment of our students.

And this is a good school.  Excellent ratings over the last several years, not hurting for money, with a very good variety of classes and extracurricular activities for the students.  Which makes me wonder how schools that aren't as well off are faring?

Short blog is short.

I'm soo sorry I haven't posted in a while, these two weeks are pretty much my busiest so far.  So instead of a big post about my lesson today (fantastic) or the Valentine's Day activity they did (also fantastic, will come at a later date), I'm just going to pose a question.

I have a methods night class once a week, the theory equivalent to the methods class I took last year.  Is it wrong that I leave there frustrated and questioning what I'm being taught?  I mean, a seasoned professional with a whole lot of experience and research to back it up is teaching us, shouldn't I be tripping over myself to try and learn everything I can instead of wondering about the legitimacy of the data?