Madeline CarlockConversations with Students PDP
In my third grade classroom, I held private conversations with four students during our quiet reading time. I chose two students (a boy and a girl) needing extra academic help, and two students (a boy and girl) who seem to me to be the strongest students in the class. I began by explaining that I was learning to be a great teacher, and needed the student’s help and advice. Then I thanked the student for abandoning his/her book to help me. The responses I received were very wide ranging (even contradictory), as was the degree of openness and forthrightness in the students responses. Overall, I found that the students very much know what they need and what works for them, though all seemed surprised that this information was valuable to me.This assignment really helped me build rapport with students I have not closely worked with, and further cemented relationships with those I have. I was shocked and delighted by each student’s keen insight and will keep this learning experience in mind as I seek out and respond to feedback from my students.
The first student I spoke to, H., told me right away that a good teacher reads to her students “like a lot. A lot a lot.” I asked her how much was a lot- and she told me “every day.” I asked “more than once a day?” and she said “Yes, if she can.” I was impressed but not surprised that H. was so insistent about this important characteristic of a good teacher. Children and adults alike love to be read to, and it is no secret that reading to children and young adults is the single most important thing adults can do, not only for academic growth, but to nurture bonds and create an atmosphere of mutual enjoyment and imaginative thinking. I imagine that many teachers often find it difficult to find time in the day to read to their students, but it is a high priority of mine, and I feel that reading to students is so necessary that it deserves to be treated as a crucial, even sacrosanct, part of every school day. H. also mentioned that a good teacher sends notes home to her parents. I asked “what kind of notes?” and she told me notes that “say what’s going on in the class, or birthdays or something.” After some more conversation on this point, I took H.’s advice to mean that H took pride in what she did in school, and felt that important news in the classroom community should be treated and broadcast as such. I also assumed that she had sensed that communication between teacher and parents is very important. The degree to which this is possible and desirable probably varies from district to district, but I will take this advice to heart as I become a school teacher. She also mentioned that a good teacher reads and repeats directions and helps you no matter what. H’s responses relate very much to the first four competencies , particularly 1 and 5.
The next student I spoke to is a new student to the district and is perhaps the brightest student in the class. He was a bit shy around me, I suspect perhaps because he associates me with the students who receive the most academic help in the class. I think that A.’s responses most closely relate to competencies 7 and 11. He told me that a good teacher is “nice” and “not too strict.” These are characteristics I definitely already count among my strengths. When I asked what he meant by this he told me that she “doesn’t make you do something right away.” I asked “do you mean she doesn’t hurry you?” A. replied that yes, “she doesn’t force you to go fast and she lets you take your time.” Knowing how difficult this can be when faced with an overwhelming curricular load, I asked, “so a good teacher is patient?” and A. remarked that yes “she is patient and stays soft.” When I asked him if he meant that she should have a soft voice he said “yes and also not get upset for no reason.” I took this to mean that for A. a good teacher maintains a climate of respect, patience, and serenity- she does not make the class privy to her moods and frustrations. He also said that a teacher is good “if she describes something we don’t knowreally good. If she describes it excited.” I imagine that A meant that the ideal teacher is creative and engaging in her instruction, and that she seizes moments of group confusion as opportunities to make connection and create enthusiasm. A. also insisted that he wished his current teacher, my mentor, gave “free choice not just on Fridays.” I asked him why this was so important, and he replied that it’s hard not to be able to make any choices. I said “So I hear that choice is really important to you. You like to be able to make decisions about how you spend your time.” A.replied, that yes, and that was also why quiet time is good, because you get to choose your book and sometimes draw pictures of whatever you want. I agree that choices are very important in the classroom- and this is something I would like to work on in practice, not just in theory- helping the students be autonomous and respecting their interests and desires. Of course, this also means assisting students in learning how to make good choices, not simply giving them lots of free time. Though structure is important in the classroom, it is also vital to trust your students enough to let them denature that structure.
My third interview was with D, a student who spent the last two years in an alternative classroom. D.’s responses seem to relate to 6, 7, 11 and 12. He is very persistent and motivated, despite his low skills, and is not afraid to raise his hand if he needs help. He told me that a good teacher doesn’t give really hard homework and helps the student “quiet so no one else can hear.” I took this to mean that differentiated instruction is so vital, and students like D. really rely on it and cherish help from a teacher. D. also told me that an ideal teacher “gives math and reading and school stuff.” He told me that he really likes school and really likes learning. In stark contrast with A., he told me that he doesn’t like too much free time and coloring. When I asked why, D. told me, “because I like to learn a lot and be in school and if you think about it, that’s what you’re pretty much here for.” I asked him about a time he learned something successfully, and he told me that in second grade he learned how to do adding and subtracting by counting. “I’m really good at it now, especially tests,” he said. “So when you learn something, does it make you feel good?” I asked. To my delight, D. smiled and said, “yes it makes me feel better than anything.” Curious, I asked how he felt when he received a sticker or a reward for good work. He told me that it doesn’t make much of a difference- “if you learned it, you learned it,” he wisely said. Though perhaps D. has been inculcated by the rigmarole of school, but I think this is more the case of a truly motivated student who has caught on that learning is its own reward. He also told me that his last teacher would “make jokes.” I asked him how that made him feel, and he said it was fun to laugh about something in the middle of math or reading. Though teaching the core concepts in a classroom is probably among my strengths, I would like to work more on nurturing and celebrating the “aha” feeling that kids get when something clicks or they work hard to master a new skill. It sounds as if D. has learned how to extract the good feelings from a school day, and I wish that more students in our class could cultivate this tendency- it seems to make a world of a difference.
The last girl I spoke to was B., a very bright but reticent student. She has had a history of homelessness and moving from school to school. She rarely cracks a smile, but I have been trying to build rapport with her. Her responses seem to allude to a special quality not described in the list of competencies, but relate closely to competencies 5 and 7.B. took the charge of giving me advice very seriously, and I think her silences were more a sign of concentration than a lack of forthrightnesss. She told me that a good teacher helps kids out one-on-one – another sign that differentiated instruction is important to gifted students as well as those with lower skills. Her responses had more to do with the ethical orientation of the teacher more than any qualities she might possess in terms of instruction. She told me that a good teacher doesn’t make you do something “for no reason.” When I asked what she meant by this, she said “she doesn’t do things that are unfair.” I interpreted in this remark that B wants everything her teacher does to be purposeful, and she is keen to recognize what is irrelevant or unreasonable. Interning in a classroom with lots of seatwork, morning work, workbooks and worksheets, I’ve learned how important it will be to me in my own classroom to make everything I do and teach purposeful. It is so crucial to understand your reasons for teaching something or giving an assignment, as well as recognizing that some work is assigned for practice, some for assessment, and some for introducing a new concept. This quality of purposefulness is one of the single most important things I would like to work on as much as I can, though this current classroom may not be the right climate for exercising that habit. B also told me that a good teacher makes sure that each student has at least one recess – she does not keep students in for both. “Is it hard to concentrate when you don’t get a recess?” I asked. B nodded vigorously. She also said it’s really important that a teacher always makes sure you get home at the end of the day. Knowing her history of homelessness and confusion about where she is living from one moment to the next, I can see why this was so important to B. What I heard from these comments about recess and getting home at the end of the day is that a good teacher has a vested interest in each student’s emotional and physical needs and safety. She understands that though her students leave her at the end of the day, she may be the only trustworthy figure in a students’ life, and she is responsible for helping students safely transition from one atmosphere to another. She genuinely cares about her students, gets to know her students and their lives outside of school, and does everything she can to make them feel safe and significant.