I Can't Believe It's Here: My Last Week in Teacher Assisting

Remember when I posted about how nervous I was about teacher assisting? How about when I truly learned how difficult teaching is when I was in my first few weeks with my students? Now, I'm in the lat week of my teacher assisting placement, and I think I've learned more about teaching than ever before. While I learned everything about content from my classes, no amount of classes could have prepared me for what I experienced this semester with these wonderful kids. They have taught me more than I ever thought I could learn, and truly have helped me to become a more effective teacher.

If I put everything I learned in one blog post, I would end up writing a novel, so let me condense me scope of knowledge to three main ideas that I have learned from my students: (1) students need to belong, (2) students need to know why they are learning what they are learning, and (3) students must be free to act independently. While these are inspired by my observations of my students, they are also inspired by work we have done in my content seminar, as well as main points from Ilana Seidel Horn's book, Motivated.

Students Need to Belong 

I think, because I'm standing in front of the classroom, I often forget what being a high school student is like. But when I look at my students, I try and remember the anxiety I felt when a teacher called on me. What would happen if I didn't know the answer? Would I look stupid? Would I get made fun of? Would my teacher shame me for not knowing? 

I often forget that my students are at an age where every interaction is inherently social in nature. They believe their peers are judging them for every action. As Horn points out, math class in particular can cause a great deal of anxiety in students, since many students have trouble understanding mathematical concepts. When we force students to share out when they do not have confidence in the topic, this causes them to withdraw, since if they don't know the content, they are more likely to incorrectly answer a question in front of their peers, leading to criticism. 

So, how do we encourage students to share their ideas in front of the class without disrespecting their role in their social group? 

The most important thing we can do is establish community in the classroom. My cooperating teacher did an excellent job of this: she asked students about their days and their weekends, and joked around with them. This immediately helped to show them that they were in a safe, non-judgmental place, and made them more likely to share out their ideas when prompted. 

One thing I did was try to learn more about my students, even if it was a small anecdote. I initially engaged one of my students, who now talks to me every day, by asking him about a fidget toy he had on his desk. Another student, who typically is very withdrawn from myself and my co-teacher, immediately engaged when I asked him about song lyrics he had written on the board, and he scrambled to find the song on YouTube since I had never heard it. My honors students constantly engage with me, and are eager to talk about their days. Even making a small effort can go a long way in letting students know they belong in the classroom, and can really foster their classroom engagement. 

Another thing that I noticed was incredibly important in establishing belonging was outwardly celebrating mistakes. My co-teacher (Brian) was amazing at doing this. One thing he constantly said was, "Well, I could be wrong, I'm wrong a lot." If a student hesitated at answering a question, fearing a wrong answer, he said, "It's ok if you're wrong, we'll work it out." I noticed that this made students more willing to share, since Brian had established a teaching environment where mistakes were okay and even wonderful. 

To me, it's so fundamentally important that students feel as if they belong in the classroom. I have seen so many students come out of their shells and engage when an effort was made to include them and get to know them. While these kids are our students, they are also social creatures who just want a place to belong, and it's our job to create this safe space for them. 

Students Need to Have a Reason for Learning 

One thing I heard far too often from various sources in my placement, even myself, was "These kids just don't care!" This is one thing we need to eliminate from our phrasebook. Sure, our kids might not have much of an interest in the learning goals, but every kid has a reason to learn. We jut need to identify this reason in order to best help them. 

For example, one of my students really wants to get a basketball scholarship, and while he doesn't really have an interest in mathematics, he does want to pass and do well in our class. So, we can use this motivation to encourage him when promoting our learning goals. Another girl doesn't have an interest in mathematics, but enjoys coming to school and learning so she can engage with her peers. In this sense, then, we could utilize collaboration-based learning to further motivate her. 

Horn calls this component of learning "meaningfulness," and we must remember this component when developing rationale for why we teach what we teach. Of course, we must hit specific content standards. But why should our group of students care? When we think about this component of teaching and planning, we make our lessons more applicable to our students' lives, showing that we care about their interest and engagement. 

Students Should be Given Independence 

Many of my students are not versed in the art of struggling alone and grappling with a problem, and because of this, they have very little problem-solving skills. However, this problem is to be expected, since many schooling cultures don't support student autonomy and independence. Teachers are so focused on students obtaining the "correct" answer that they don't stop and give students time to think and reason: No wonder students need their hands held! 

How, then, do we combat this? Due to the nature of our own classroom, we haven't been able to give students complete and utter independence in having them grapple with a problem alone, since they would simply give up after two minutes. However, Brian and I have found small ways to give students independence in order to cultivate their problem-solving skills. 

First of all, we have students do examples independently in our time of note-taking, so that they have some scaffolding already provided, and can confidently do a problem. Additionally, students are able to ask us for help if it is needed, which gives them further confidence. 

Secondly, students have independent homework time, which gives them practice with problem-solving on their own, while at the same time giving them further confidence since they have three experts in the room who can help them if they are stuck. 

Finally, students are given autonomy when we utilize formative assessments. This is mostly applicable in our honors geometry class, but we have used resources such as Kahoot to implement a formative assessment to provide quiz review for the students. Then, students are familiar with the material while still able to independently complete a task. 

The best example of autonomous work in the classroom that I have seen thus far is a project my cooperating teacher gives her honors students. She has them construct a creature with a head, a body, and four limbs, instructs them to find the surface area of the creature, and gives them a length of aluminum foil that is their obtained surface area. Then, students must cover their creature with the foil, and determine whether they over or underestimated. The only stipulation for this project is that students must find the surface area formulas by themselves using technology, and that the teachers cannot help them with the work. This gives students independence and responsibility in the quality of their work, yet gives them some scaffolding since they have the resource of technology. 

Final Thoughts 

As a whole, I would say I learned an incredible amount this semester. I never thought I would build such awesome connections with my kids, and I'm going to miss them so so much. I am so grateful for the experience I have had teaching them, and I hope I can carry this new knowledge with me through student teaching and beyond. 

Now, onto the next adventure!