october twenty second

Today I started the day by sitting in on Mr. Cohen's class. There are a couple quotes I want to write about or mention:

"When you think about funerals, the one person who they're for, isn't there."
"The main character is 145th street."
"This isn't Franklin Lakes."
"Mr. Cohen I got a brand new pen."

I'm also visiting another Ms. Ohle class, one that I haven't visited before. I love the confusion that surrounds me. When I'm not introduced formally to the class, they have a "who is she" aura about them. It's peculiar and really amusing. I come in, I write and I draw for the period. It's very interesting being an outside force to a classroom.

They seem to sort of get over the fact that I know the teacher, I'm older and bigger--but not quite old enough to be another teacher, and I only show up at random times. So what am I? Once they have looked at me, and tried to read what I'm writing in my notebook enough, they deem me something they know enough about or something they can let be part of the classroom. That isn't to say that they don't look over and see what I'm writing or drawing every once in a while.

Here's more about the class is run; Ms. Ohle puts up an agenda at the beginning of the class. No matter how free-form a teaching style or classroom is, there's always a need for some sort of structure--possibly only at this age, but more probably at every age, the only difference being the need or desire for learning being mutual (ergo: generally in college and above). At this age most students aren't really interested in learning what you teach them. With a few exceptions most want a good grade, to have fun, and a few other things that are slightly higher on the priority list. The trick of the agenda is to get them to stay on task and sometimes to dangle the things they want in front of them---until you trick them into being interested and learning.

If you don't get to someone isn't that reflective of his or her learning stlye and your teaching style? Shouldn't a teacher do everything a person can do to get to a student? What is failing as a teacher?

back in the swing of things

it's been a while since i've been at my internship, because school was closed two weeks ago, and then I was sick the week after. So I'm just getting back to internship.

What I really like about internship is that I get to talk to my mentor a lot. He tells me about this artist that he takes a class with. He gave me a sample of the guy's work. It's really amazing. He makes these political comics. The one I have write now is about how america is divided into red and blue and how that affects us negatively. It's really witty, insightful and mostly really inspiring work.

Today I also sat in on Ms. Ohle's class, which was interesting. As a new teacher, she's still finding her rhythym, which is a really big part of the struggle of teaching, but also really fun. I also noticed a lot about how the kids work socially. At this age, it's strange how being interested in learning or in reading is considered uncool, and how students that seem the most tough, are actually really struggling to find the courage to be themselves.

On a lighter note, the kids are also a lot of fun. Kids have less inhibitition, so they tend to "tell it like it is" more often (which is hilarious) and laugh a lot more. I can see why someone would want a job where they coudl be in this company for a large part of their day.

Having sat in on a meeting with both my mentor and his mentee, I'm learning a bit about the grant process and how funding is requested for certain aims in the classroom. There are certain ways of going about requesting funds so that you can create what you think will help education. What I think is cool is the way that people ask is completely different. When a grant is requested, there are certain questions that one must address, but the way in which a person does that is slightly up to personal style as well as comfort. For example, my mentor has been at that school for a few years now, so he's not afraid to free-formly ask for what it is he wants, and state the goals of what he proposes. He's also not afraid to step on some toes for the sake of education, which I've noticed, in really good educators, remains the constant goal. Others, who are possibly not so comfortable, might simply present in a more standard fashion with something like a powerpoint or prepared words. I didn't ask, but I'm wondering what gets the job done.

I'm really enjoying my internship and looking forward to next week, when I can fingerpaint with the students. You might think this is kinda weird, but the classroom is about expression. The activity will consist of fingerpainting with ambient music playing. And then using the paintings to create a literary work, and continually shifting in media choice and playing with the idea of media. The idea is to get the students introduced to the idea that all forms of expression are inter-related.

It was really cool when I did it 4 years ago, so it should be a fun thing to return to.

Today I sat in on Ms. Ohle's class and on another class she subs for.