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Volume 2, Issue 2 : August 2001
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Take a Look at: Teachers' Notes On-Line:
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Teacher Tales by Ellen Kelly: A tale on how a game of softball can turn into much more then learning just sports.
Are You Frustrated About Teaching Writing as Your Students Are about Learning it? Learn how the Chicago Area Writing Project can help and how to register for their workshop series at Roosevelt. Roosevelt.
A Teacher's First Year by Debbi (Diesing) Hervai: a reflective piece about a first year teacher's experience. It may not be all sugar and spice, but it is still worth teaching.
Metropolitan Institute for Teaching and Learning
Production Staff
Chief Editor and Production Director: Ellen Kelly '00
Editor: Debbie (Diesing) Hervai ‘00
This Newsletter is funded by the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant
Take a Look at: Teachers' Notes On-Line:
We developed an on-line version of Teachers’ Notes to meet the request of several graduates. Right now we are using Geocities.com as our host until we get funding for our own domain. We have emailed a link to those email address we have on file.
This
web site provides recent RU College of Education graduates with the latest
information about RU's new teacher and mentorship support services. These
services are funded by the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant and RU's
Metropolitan Institute for Teaching and Learning (MITL) and are free to
Roosevelt University’s newest graduates and student teachers.
We welcome comments or suggestions for Teachers’ Notes. We are looking for people to share their teacher tales. Send your teacher tale or suggestion to: teachersnotes@yahoo.com
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Life is filled with teachable moments. I went into teaching to “teach” and was ready to find those teachable moments where I could turn a real life experience into a great lesson for the entire class. What I often neglected to do was to take real-life moments and turn them into teachable moments for my own benefit. This summer the experience of my niece and her softball team was a reminder of the need to approach the classroom like Taylor’s coach (A positive approach and praise can turn a person’s learning experience into a rewarding event for the entire community.)
Taylor is in third grade and is in remission from a childhood illness that is similar to cancer. As a result of her early years of Chemo therapy, she weighs only 40 pounds. This is four pounds heavier than her four year old sister. She has light muscle mass and is not very coordinated. However, these factors did not stop her from joining the local softball league. My sister was hesitant to let her join because of her physical limitations and for fear of the other players making fun of her inability to play.
Taylor joined the team without fear and expected nothing but a summer of fun. My sister was shocked at the coach’s response to Taylor’s inabilities. He knew of her childhood illness, but did use this as an excuse to limit Taylor’s effort or ability. In fact, he never mentioned it to the other players or their parents. Throughout the summer the coach encouraged Taylor to do her best and often spent extra time helping her practice. For example, he brought in his son’s baseball “T” to give her the experience of hitting the ball. His positive approach and encouragement was contagious as Taylor’s teammates never once criticized her. Eventually, even the parents began to give her smiles and words of encouragement each time she stepped up to bat. She faced the entire season with no success of hitting the ball, until the last game.
Taylor stepped up to the plate for the final time that season. She did it! She bunted the ball and even made it to first base. The entire team; couches, players, and parents began to cheer as if Taylor had hit a home run.
I thought to myself, “This is what school should be….a place where everyone works as a team and supports each other on the road to success. Where somewhat “small” accomplishments are as rewarding as hitting a home run.”
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Are You Frustrated About Teaching Writing as Your Students Are about Learning it?
In the newest issue of the Roosevelt Review, the Alumni newsletter, they feature a program about the Chicago Area Writing Project (CAWP).
We thought we would give you the details on this program since several graduates have expressed a need for more experience and knowledge in writing methods.
This project focuses on teaching teachers how to teach writing. It has been very successful and is used in school districts throughout the Chicagoland area.
This program can be experienced through a summer session or by attending at least two of the Saturday Seminars. If you attend at least 5-6 sessions or the entire summer session you can apply for graduate credit or lane change from CPS. There is a fee per graduate credit hour and a fee to apply for lane change. Otherwise the workshops are offered free of charge.
The program is geared for all elementary levels and is highly recommended for third grade teachers since it has proven to be the key element in raising test scores on the IGAP (data is still being gathered to show its effect on the IGAP).
You may register by printing the online registration form at the Roosevelt CAWP home page at
www.cawp.roosevelt.edu The home page also offers more information on the costs and benefits of being a participant. For this fall the dates are : Oct 20, Nov. 17, Feb. 23, and March 23. On these dates you can choose two 90 minute sessions to attend for the day.
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A Teacher's First Year by Debbi (Diesing) Hervai:
I started out the year with nervous anticipation in the hope that I would be a successful teacher. The first day of school I introduced myself to my students with a brief personal background. I asked them to do the same. Then I asked them write down their likes and dislikes of school. This helped me understand what my students’ needs were. I then handed out the textbook the school had which I later found it to be useless and created my own booklets. Since reading a variety of sources is an important part of learning I pulled information from different sources and put together my own booklets. I felt the students needed additional material to help them become more successful learners so throughout the year I created additional handouts. Developing my own materials based on the state standards and the materials presented in class proved to be a more authentic assessment, unlike the prepared tests that at times try to trick the students.
The first quarter seemed to be going well and ended with a range of student achievements. One student in particular was receiving a “D” at mid-term. Several teachers advised me to call the student’s father to notify of him of the grade before report cards went out. It was my first parent contact and it devastated me. The parent accused me of hitting and throwing books at his son and other students. He stated he had a list of witnesses and was going to the police to file a complaint. I first thought, I was going to lose my license to teach. I talked to the principal and found this to be a common threat from this parent. She assured me that she knew his threats were unfounded and that I was not in danger of losing my job or my license. Time proved that his threats were idle.
As the 1st quarter ended and the grades went out I had to deal with my first parent/teacher conference. Most parents came and went with no problem, but the night ended with an irate parent who, being a teacher herself, proceeded to instruct me, while yelling, on how exactly I should run my classroom because I was doing it all wrong. She then had a letter waiting for the principal the next morning. If it had not been for the support of my principal in both parent cases, I may have quit the most rewarding job I ever had. For the rest of the school year I made it a point to keep parents informed of student progress so there would be no more surprises when report cards went out.
Along with the hardships came the rewarding aspect of teaching, the students. Teaching my content area was not the only thing I taught my students. I worked hard at teaching my students how to respect others. Someone once said to me that teaching was a thankless job, but fortunately for me I was thanked often by group that I least expected it from, my students.
In our school we started a homework club that students could attend two days a week. I also stayed after school trying to catch up on my own work, but students often came to see me so much that I had them sign in to keep a record of who was in the room. I found that when the students received my help I was often thanked for spending that time with them. At times they came just to hang out because they had no where else to go. My door was always open and I felt good that I could give those students a safe place to be.
I left for the summer with a feeling of great accomplishment about my first year teaching. I received a superior rating from my principal’s final evaluation of my teaching. The satisfaction of knowing I was able to make a positive
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