Farewell Friends

Hello Beautiful People,

Might I just say it has been wonderful writing for you. At times there were moments where I could not capture my experience here at GSE in full, which is why I am confident your experience will venture beyond words as well. Although, I have graduated I will remain in Philadelphia until June, teaching full time at my student teaching placement. Once school is out I will move back to California for a month, then return to the East Coast, specifically New York. I have accepted a job offer to be a Social Studies/ English middle school teacher at school in Harlem. I am extremely excited by what the future holds and satisfied by the present moment. I hope my journal has been helpful or at least entertaining. Please feel free to reach out to many with any questions, comments etc.

Farewell,
Chelsea
cfull@gse.upenn.edu

A Lot To Be Thankful For

With everything coming to an end I have much to be thankful for. Not only have I managed to complete an intensive Masters program, I am currently working full time and have two job offers for next year. This year has been one of many up and downs, but with the support a great team, passion and the help of a higher power I have made it through.  I am proud of myself for the personal growth I have experienced. It is not easy moving across the country away from one’s family and closet friends. Initially, I did not know if I would be able to manage but I have and for that I feel triumphant. Next year will mean another transition, a new location, new job and new lifestyle completely. Nonetheless, I am excited for what it is in store and open to the possibilities. 

Defining Teaching and Learning

Throughout the program we have been encouraged to define and redefine teaching and learning. We wrote our first definition in the summer time and were asked to return to it again in our final portfolios. Here is what I came up with:

Returning to the definition of teaching I created this past summer, I still believe teaching is multilayered and must establish different objectives based on the context and population one is teaching. Teachers at any moment may serve as friends, parental figures, counselors, and student/community advocates. Depending on the context and need, teaching can include the provision of psychological, emotional and spiritual support. Inherent to this process is learning for both parties. I have learned through experience that both student and teacher can be changed as a result of the relationship. Moreover, neither role is static as roles may be switched in some instances. 

 Nell Noddings asserts that “Teachers model caring when they steadfastly encourage responsible self-affirmation in their students. Such teachers are, of course, concerned with their students' academic achievement, but, more importantly, they are interested in the development of fully moral persons.”(10)Beyond developing academics, I am interested in cultivating critical thinkers, who possess empathy and a strong sense of self.

 Teaching should derive from a place of love and a genuine concern for the betterment of the individual and society as a whole.  This does not just mean concern for those who are excelling but concern for those who seem to go unnoticed; and concern for those who may be written off as lazy and disinterested. For me teaching and learning is the vehicle by which we can transform our society.

Student Teaching Comes to End...Lessons From the Field

It was not until my final day of student teaching that I realized how connected I felt to the students in room 236. After collecting their exit surveys, I began to tell them how much I enjoyed teaching them but could not finish because I got too choked up. The students quickly noticed and exclaimed “Aww Ms. Fuller don’t cry,” then ran and hugged me. While, they stressed me out continually and often left me feeling drained simply put,  my ninth graders have taught me a lot. Like it is okay to discipline a student, they will get over it. Give students clear directions; while simultaneously allowing for creative freedom. Be intolerant of disrespect to their classmates. Love them as if they are your own but allow them to mistakes and learn from them. Have something to say and they will listen.

From the students in room 236, I also learned the importance of building caring relationships. In the article “Moral Education, ” Nell Noddings explains that, “The cared- for is essential to the relation. What the cared for contribute to the relation is a responsiveness that completes the caring. This responsiveness need not take the form of gratitude or even direct acknowledgement. Rather, the cared-for shows either in direct response to the one caring or in spontaneous delight and happy growth before her eyes that the caring has been received. The caring is completed when the cared for receives the caring.”(10) On the last day through a hand made card(pictured below), one of my students revealed to me her acceptance of my caring.

My Reflections on Supporting Students with Special Needs

Initially I was frustrated with the common response of “it depends” to most of all my questions related to special needs, but now I understand. Like most things in education, there is no “one size fits all” to supporting students with special needs. The category of “Special needs” is a broad and dynamic arena that is even more layered by student’s age, socioeconomic status, culture and general persona. Over the course of the year I have come to learn that labels like “ES” “MR” or “SLD” are not telling of who a child is.  When one takes a view of a child that is solely based on the label next to their name, they are taking a deficit view and surely missing key aspects.  

Although social stigmas might suggest other wise, I believe all of my students are endowed with unique gifts. Moreover, as there teacher it is my role to figure out how to draw upon those gifts. In short in moving forward in my practice I will approach each of my students with two big questions: what are your dreams and gifts? And how can I support and build upon them?

Spring Break

Unlike other programs in GSE TEP’s  Spring Break is aligned with the School District of Philadelphia. So this past week students and student teachers were able to get away. Nonetheless, somehow my break slipped away from me. Instead of going home, I decided that I would use the break to search for jobs, go on interviews, work on my master’s portfolio and get ahead on planning. Unfortunately, the position I informed you about in the last post, is not guaranteed for next year.  As one might predict only one of those (on my spring break laundry list) really happened. I was able to arrange four different interviews and two demo lessons with schools in NY. After much grooming by our GSE career services representative Jim Alton, I went in and tried to make my resume come alive. I have received one job offer thus far (yay!) and will be waiting to hear back from others. Meanwhile, in thinking about the future I let the present slip away. So in short I will spend the rest of my weekend getting ready to teach next week, working on my masters portfolio and hopefully sleeping. 

A New Position

Hello World,

With so much going on I have not had time to update you. So as you know, I am currently a student in teacher's ed., getting certified in Secondary Social Studies. Upon the recommendation of the school principal at my student teaching placement, I was recently site selected to be emergency certified in English, in order to teach in a pilot academy for repeat ninth and tenth graders. As a result, I teach both English and History; and function as a student teacher and a certified teacher within the school. (crazy right!) So in short the past month has been intense. I teach two English II courses, one English I and I am still teaching my ninth grade World History course. Oh yes and I am a full time student at Penn. Yet with all the craziness this position has been such a blessing. While I had intended to add on an English Cert., I will now have real experience teaching both. Moreover, I also have real incite on what it means to be a full-time teacher, plus I have my own classroom (yipee). The academy started March 5th (yes mid school year) and we have been pushing forward ever since. On March 3rd some of my wonderful friends and I came together to help me Christen my room. Lesson planning and grading for three different courses and four different groups of students is well, no joke but what can I say I love the rush.. Stay tuned more updates on this endeavor. 

 

End of the Weekend Anxiety

It seems that every sunday with out fail, I find myself overwhelmed by all I have to do to prepare for the week. With post-its scattered on the wall above my desk, my never ending to do list plagues me. As of now I have nine different post it's each noting a different task that I need to complete before the day is over. Perhaps one day I will go hard Friday and Saturday to make for any easier Sunday. Well it's time to put mind over matter... here I go again... Happy Sunday Everyone.

Lesson Reflections: Violent Vs. NonViolent Action

On Wednesday, I began a unit on Revolution and Resistance. My intention is to discuss different revolutionary leaders including Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong and Gandhi and different ways to bring change. As a way to introduce my students to this topic I had them do a looping activity. I gave each of them a blank sheet of paper then asked them to respond to the following prompt: “How do you change a system you do not agree with– through violent or nonviolent action? Explain your choice and give an example of violent or nonviolent action.”  As they were writing I told them to write legibly, leave out their name and respond to the question fully as someone, aside from me, would see their paper. When I said this some students were immediately weary and protested that they did not want anyone to read their response. I tried to reassure them by reiterating they could leave out their name. I collected all of the papers then redistributed them, I was careful about who I gave papers to and made sure I swapped my ELL students papers and gave my advanced students papers with longer responses. I advised them to read the person’s response then write back to the person by expressing whether they agree or disagree and why. Following this activity we defined revolution, resistance, oppression, power and authority; and ended class with an exit ticket. I think that the students enjoyed the looping activity after they got through the initial anxiety. My Penn mentor conjectured that about 80% of students were engaged during the activity. When I reviewed the responses most students gave thoughtful responses to the initial question and very simple responses to their classmates responses. Most of my students expressed that nonviolent action was the best means to bring about change. Others expressed that sometimes there is a need for violent action when you are not being taken seriously. When I do this activity again I will provide a model   of how to respond to another person’s response and ask for their vocal feedback of the activity and content.  

Lesson Reflections: WWI & Interdisciplinary Work

The week before last we covered World War I. I chose to focus on the causes of World War I, the concept of Total War, Women in the War, Weaponry and Warfare, Causalities and the Treaty of Versailles. I tried to organize each day as a different topic. Additionally, during professional development I was able to work with the ninth-grade English teacher that many of my students have about corroborating our lessons. I would try to give them an overview of the historical concepts, while she would explore texts from WWI like All Quiet on the Western Front.

During this unit, I think my lesson on trench warfare and causalities went the best. I began by asking them how many do they think died in WWI. I wrote each of their responses on their board and moved on to Cornell notes. I had the students copy down the definition of trench warfare and also listed some characteristics of life in the trenches. When I asked the students who had heard of trenches many proclaimed that they were learning about this in Ms. Swinehart’s class (the English teacher). Although some complained that they did not want to learn history in English, I was glad that they were taking note of what they were learning in each. Next, I projected a map that showed the arrangement of trenches it displayed primary and secondary  trenches, No Man’s Land and the barbed wire fences. While the students took notes, I set up the desk in a way that resembled the map and asked for three volunteers. I had the students sit on the ground (in the trenches) and pointed out the associations between the desk layout and the trench warfare layout. I told them that occasionally a soldier would be ordered to go out into “No Man’s Land,” (and asked a student to get up) but BOOM (I shook the student), they would meet enemy fire. All of the class seemed engaged with the simulation and I gave each of the volunteers candy for participating. Finally, to get at causalities, I had my students look at a primary source written by a nurse during the war who sits next to a soldier who has just discovered he has lost his legs, then examine a numerical chart with a breakdown of causalities per country. I asked them to compare and contrast the story each of these sources told about causalities. I think the lesson went well although it was a lot to get through, so in the future I might break these two days up. I would have also liked to go back to their initial hypothesis of how many people died and compare this with the numbers on their chart. 

A little bribery= A lot of participation

constructed responses ..district orders

At our school we are required, by the district, to do weekly constructed responses. Our students scores are recorded and teacher compliance is also noted. While I understand they are designed to help students do better on the PSSA’s, it is quite annoying to loose instructional time for this test preparation. Nonetheless, I have slowly but surely been finding ways to negotiate this. One way is to pick readings or design questions that relate to the course material. So this week as we concluded imperialism I had my students read a primary source written by a Chinese imperial officer to Queen Victoria regarding Britain’s exploitative actions in his country. The students were then asked to identify attitudes of the speaker towards European imperialism. We did a collective brainstorm on the board and then the students wrote their paragraphs individually. For the most part students were able to identify the speaker attitude as a negative one, then find quotes within the texts to support their claim. Despite the ridiculous things the higher ups ask to do, I believe there is always a way to be creative within that especially for the sake of the studentsAt our school we are required, by the district, to do weekly constructed responses. Our students scores are recorded and teacher compliance is also noted. While I understand they are designed to help students do better on the PSSA’s, it is quite annoying to loose instructional time for this test preparation. Nonetheless, I have slowly but surely been finding ways to negotiate this. One way is to pick readings or design questions that relate to the course material. So this week as we concluded imperialism I had my students read a primary source written by a Chinese imperial officer to Queen Victoria regarding Britain’s exploitative actions in his country. The students were then asked to identify attitudes of the speaker towards European imperialism. We did a collective brainstorm on the board and then the students wrote their paragraphs individually. For the most part students were able to identify the speaker attitude as a negative one, then find quotes within the texts to support their claim. Despite the ridiculous things the higher ups ask to do, I believe there is always a way to be creative within that especially for the sake of the students

A good lesson in a rushed unit

The past two weeks I have covered exploration and encounters. I was very unsatisfied with this unit simply because I knew there would not be enough time to explore deeply. Last week we did a map exercise where the students had to identify where explorers came from and the lands they claimed. This week we moved on to examine the first encounters between Native American’s and Europeans and looked at the middle passage. Despite my grievances with the unit overall, I enjoyed teaching and planning a one day lesson on the middle passage. We began by reviewing the motives for exploration, the territories European explorers claimed, historical bias and primary and secondary sources. Then I drew a visual of the triangular trade routes and had the students create their own in their notes. I emphasized that we would be discussing the part of the route that slaves were traded then transported along. I then displayed a clip from the film Amistad that very graphically represents the conditions of the middle passage. Finally, we closed by reading a primary source by Oladouh Equiano and a secondary source about the middle passage. Students were then asked to answer questions about these documents. I feel that this lesson went well because I was able to draw upon content that was very interesting to them to teach skills. If allowed more time I would have loved to spend more time discussing their responses to the film and their thoughts about exploration in general.

The importance of modeling activities for students and trial of half days

Last week we had three half day schedules for parent conferences making it extremely difficult to get through anything. I intended to use this week to introduce my students to exploration and colonization. I would use the first  day to explain the reasons for European exploration, a day to locate where Europeans explored on maps and the remainder of the week to practice analyzing primary and secondary sources. In looking back these goals were far too ambitious and we were only able to get through the map activity. After my powerpoint presentation on the motives of exploration, I distributed a map activity for the students to complete. The activity asked them to identify  Spain, England and Portugal, then identify which countries they claimed in the Americas. The final part of the activity asked them to make predictions about why certain countries had more territory then others and judge whether or not their actions were fair. I found that most of my students struggled to identify different countries on their map. They found it difficult to match the larger projections in the book with their smaller map.  Perhaps I could have circumvented this with some guided practice and modeling. As opposed to,  handing them a map activity, with the assumption they would move through it quickly, I should have projected a large map on the board and engaged them in some collective geography practice. In the end almost every student ended up calling me to their desk individually and expressed frustration when I helped their peers and could not get to them quick enough. Based on this experience, I found that independent practice is easier for the teacher and students when students are scaffolded appropriately through practices like modeling and guided practice. I also found that I need to spend more time working on my students geographic literacy skills.

Planning with the PST

So as I mentioned in my last post the infamous clip board people, aka the walkthrough team, payed my school a visit. Well we received their evaluation back and they had quite a bit to say. One critique they had was that teachers lesson's did not reflect the Philadelphia planning and scheduling timeline. So since their feedback, there has been a large push to get us( core content teachers) in line with with state standards and PST. In my world history class we just left the renaissance and have now ventured into exploration, yet of course, the PST notes that I should be wrapping up industrialism and imperialism by the end of next week. This seems even more impossible considering that we had three half days this week for parent conferences. The next walk through will be on February 27th. So chronologically this would mean skipping over the Enlightenment and the American, French and Latin American revolution's in order to be on track with the PST. I literally cringe at the idea of skipping topics like the enlightenment or even haitian revolution; and my stomach turns to the thought of covering things like the trans-atlantic slave trade and colonization in a 2-3days. Nonetheless, for now this is the way things are. So what do I do? Right now I do not feel as though I have the social and political capital and experience to resist, so I am faced with pushing myself to find creative ways to make it work. These management policies that are supposed to be set in place to support children are not doing right by them. I do not understand how the people who devise these timelines feel that we can adequately teach and asses revolutions in a week. It would almost be better to abstain from covering so many topics  then delivering an inaccurate surface level presentation of a whole lot. I see history a way to understand our current world and as a source of empowerment, a philosophy that the creators of the planning and scheduling timeline obviously do not share.

Pressures from the top down

In the past week I have watched teachers and students  encounter what I am going to call evaluation anxiety. I am currently doing my student teaching at a school that has been deemed low performing. Under the last superintendent the school was labeled a promise academy. The promise academy model required longer hours, new policies and in some cases new teachers. This also meant consistent observations/walk throughs from the promise academy office to ensure the school was making progress. Recently, the promise academy office was dissolved and our school was moved into a new division. Thus, there is a new walk through team. Last week we had our first walk through with officials from the new division and I watched teachers scramble to put up student work, ensure objectives were boldly posted and make sure there lesson would hit the 7 step lesson plan that is prescribed. Conversations about the walk through buzzed in the academy offices, main offices and in the halls amongst teachers. So I was not surprised when my mentor asked me to sit in on the department meeting as they would be reviewing feedback from the walk through.  There evaluation was extremely detailed and they highlighted that teachers were not on track with the PST (state planning and scheduling timeline) and that school policies were not being enforced. In the meeting my mentor announced that we would have to move forward and get on track with the time line even if that meant completely skipping material. On the one hand I can understand their concern with making sure teachers are following some type of timeline and hitting essential topics, but on the other hand, it is beyond agitating. To have someone step into your classroom for five mins and go down a checklist with out any contextual knowledge then prescribe these quick fixes and ambiguous recommendations is a slap in the face. Who gets to decide which content is essential? and why? is it because they have a title in front of their name. So what if our kids are behaving and we are in the correct time period, if they are not getting the skills they need to be successful in the real world and situate the material conceptually it is all meaningless. This experience helped me understand how and why teachers give in to conventional ways of teaching, but what I cannot understand is why they do not stand up. Is it the culture of fear that spreads and paralyzes a person from saying what everyone is feeling? Those exerting pressure from the top down have seem to have lost the reason we do all of this (or at least I) and that is the children.

A Blessing in disguise benefits of stepping away from technology and the importance of steps

             Over the past week and a half my students have been engaging in group projects. Each group has a different empire in either Africa or the America's to research. Within their groups each person is responsible for researching one of the following areas: geography, social order, politics and culture. So from Monday to Wednesday using a set of questions I created for them related to each topic, the students used the computers to do research about their empires. Originally scheduled to be in the computer lab all week,  on Thursday, due to scheduling confusion our class was forced to have class outside the lab at the tables in the library. Unaware that this might happen before class I had decided to go through their group folders and provide each student individual feedback and points for all the work they had done thus far. In going through their work I discovered most people had answered all their research questions and were ready for the summary stage. So students were able to use this class time to summarize their research and answer a set of reflection questions about the project and what they were learning. I know that if the students were in the lab most would have spent their time on twitter or some other irrelevant site. In addition, those who had been disengaged initially were able to see how many points they had at this stage and move forward. I have found that the use of steps and consistent feedback is extremely helpful when scaffolding students for larger projects. 
   

           Last week I discussed how upset my students were when I told them we would be working in groups but I have witnessed a complete transformation. Students have become accountable for one another and truly developed a sense of community. Moreover, this day away from the computers, really revealed to me the growth that had taken place.

the trials of group work

After going over my evaluation with my Penn mentor and visiting other schools through my cross visits I felt moved to plan more activities that would require my students to work collaboratively with one another. Moreover, coming to an end on my unit on the middle ages I figured it an opportune time for the students to learn about Africa and the Americas prior to the age of exploration. So this past week I introduced them to a group project that they would work on over the next week and a half. Each group would be given an empire in either the Americas or Africa that they would research and then teach the class on. Nonetheless, on Thursday before I could even get to the meat of the project I met much resistance.

I had strategically grouped the students based on personality and ability. In addition, I had the students take a multiple intelligence test and informed them that I used these results, in addition to many other factors, to determine their groups. I had anticipated a few complaints so in effort to get them thinking about the importance of group work I had asked them to list the benefits of group work in their Do Now and introduced the word Ujima meaning collective work or responsibility in kiswahilli. Nonetheless, as soon as I announced the groups many were disgruntled; some refused to move from their seat to their assigned groups; while others, blurted out that they did not want to work in a particular groups because their group was dumb. After raising my voice, in class parent phone calls and a few threats I had quelled the insurrection. I wondered why they were so anti-group work and asked my self if there was anything I could have done  differently to make them more comfortable. The next day went much better. They divided roles and responsibilities then picked the research area that they would be working on. Next week they will continue to work in groups on their projects and I am hoping that there is no regression and that through this experience they become more comfortable in working with others. 

Sharpening the Sword and Staying Sharp

Upon my first week back of teaching I had could not help but feel dull. Looking back on my first week of teaching in October I can remember being excited and pouring my heart into my lessons plans still to feel that they were not enough. Don’t get me wrong I still spend time and energy planning, but initially there was not one lesson where I did not attempt to situate the material the students where studying into some broader social cultural context. After I was almost through the lesson which had been on the middle ages I thought I could have made connections to social hierarchy today and feudalism  more explicit; or I could have used the bubonic plague to frame a discussion around public health. Once my gse classes began in the next week I quickly realized the issue. In order to stay sharp I must surround myself with others who are interested in being sharp. It is vital that I stay connected to a community of practitioners interested in social justice and seeing the world as it could be. With my 10 day break and then 1 week of only being in the schools, I had not the chance to reconnect with those who stimulate and constantly share new ideas and approaches i.e. my peers and mentors (aka instructors).

When we meet on Wednesday for my methods class, my instructor put the following quote up by Bell Hooks right before she dismissed us “ Education at its best—this profound human transaction called teaching—is not just about getting information or getting a job. Education is about healing and wholeness. It is about empowerment, liberation, transcendence, about renewing vitality of life. It is about finding and claiming ourselves and our place in the world.”  This reminder was exactly what I need and my initial feelings of dullness revealed to me how important it will be to keep myself stimulated once I leave this program. As a future educator I will seek an immediate family that will be there to remind and support me when I seem to be veering away from my understandings of education. 

Back In Action

There is literally no place like home. After a very short break I was quickly how much I love my family and California. Unfortunately I did not get the chance to see many friends:( But playing candy land and watching movies with my baby sisters on new years eve was simply priceless. I had two christmases one in Texas and one in California. I flew into Texas and drove back to Cali with my family, while the two day road trip was not as excruciating as I thought it would be it ate up 2 days of my 10 day break. Some day if I ever become a super entendent I will ensure students and teachers have at least a full two weeks off. At any rate, yesterday I kissed my sunny skies goodbye only to be greeted by freezing philadelphia.

Evidently this cold permeated the school walls and when I walked in this morning I still felt like I was outside. My classroom was so cold that we had to find another room on a different floor. Generally, when we switch rooms the students seem more serene this however was not the case today. I am not sure if it was the cold or the fact it was the first day back but many were rowdy and disinterested in working. Surprisingly, two that generally give me trouble were very engaged. We went over new years resolutions and last year reflections, we also established collective expectations and reviewed the rules.  From what I gather this semester will require a different approach. Soon I will be taking over three more classes as well as my own g.s.e coursework; in short, the intensity will increase. I am excited and afraid of what is to come.