Promising Practices

I had been looking forward to attending the Promising Practices conference because the workshops I chose sounded interesting to me. Also, after seeing that video in class of Dr. Tricia Rose making a speech, I was looking forward to hearing what she had to say at the conference. The only aspect of the conference I was not crazy about was the early starting time. After I signed in at Donovan, I sat down with a couple of friends and met up with a few people from this class. After chatting for a few minutes, we separated and went to our respective workshops.

                The workshop I chose for session one was called “Student Teaching in Diverse High School Classrooms: Tales from the Field.” I chose this session because I wanted to learn more about the student teaching process and how it worked, and hear about the experiences of the presenters. Student teaching is not an easy task for any prospective teacher, so I wanted to find out about what worked and what didn’t in the presenters’ situations. As I had anticipated, this session was plentifully informative and interesting. The Curriculum Resource Fair was not as interesting as I had anticipated. I went around to each table and looked at the various textbooks and other materials that each group brought, but nothing in particular caught my attention. The workshop I chose for session two was called “ALLIED: Across our Differences.” I wanted to hear stories from people from the various underrepresented groups at RIC, and about how their experiences have affected their learning in some way. This is exactly what I experienced at the session, along with new ways of looking at the word “ally.” Instead of thinking of ally in terms of one who is just sympathetic or friendly, I see an ally as one who will take action, and have someone’s back in a difficult situation. This is now Mirriam-Webster defines ally (see the noun definition) as one who is associated as a helper. This definition does not convey the power I now associate with being an ally for someone. While it does entail helping, it is much more than that. I can help someone by listening, but an ally will help someone by listening and DOING something about it. Dr. Tricia Rose’s keynote speech kept me interested throughout its entirety, and her solutions for discussing difficult topics in the classroom were enlightening. I believe she is a terrific speaker with an unmatched ability to intertwine serious discussion with humor. I especially enjoyed the “gay computer” story.

                I would like to explain in more detail the first session about student teaching. The first session began with introductions from each of the presenters as to where they student taught and at what grade level. After that, they allowed attendees to ask questions, to which each presenter provided his or her own unique answer. The major topics covered by the session were relationship with cooperating teacher, lesson planning, observation, examinations, and classroom management. The presenters asked us to ask questions about any concerns we had, or about particular aspects of student teaching that made us nervous. I realized I was most nervous about discipline and lesson planning, which were covered by the presenters.

One of the presenters recommended meeting with your cooperating teacher before the experience, in order to find out what he or she expects from you. This for me was a Delpit moment because I realized the purpose of meeting with your cooperating teacher would be to learn the rules and codes of power in his or her classroom. By meeting with the cooperating teacher, you would be learning what your role is in relation to his or her role, how much power you have, and how much power the children are generally given. Since consistency is important, transitioning from the cooperating teacher’s method of teaching and your personal method will be easier if you follow the rules and codes of power already established by the cooperating teacher.

                One particular student asked about gayness in the classroom, particular if a student teacher should intervene if a student calls another a “fag” or anything related. "Ah", I thought to myself, "A Carlson moment." All of the presenters answered his question with a yes. The general belief was that if you do not make the student aware of his or her disrespect for the student being harassed, that student will know that he or she cannot trust you to have his or her back. Carlson would say that the student who was harassed would feel “abnormal” after the incident, but if a teacher were to take action, the student would remain within the “normal” community of the school. The article I posted above shows how schools continue to view homosexuality as an abnormal part of society. Therefore, any instance where negative homosexual remarks are made should not be tolerated, in hopes that some comfort can be given to gay and lesbian students, as well as faculty.

In addition to these relationships to the authors we have read, I learned various tips for successful student teaching. Relating to this class, one presenter mentioned that even in high school, a teacher can “start over” if a class starts to spiral downward, and that most students will be receptive. Overall, I learned about the technical facets of student teaching such as how often you are observed and your responsibilities in terms of planning lessons and giving quizzes and tests, as well as other information such as discipline tricks that work and don’t work. Something that calmed me down was that each of the presenters made it clear that when cooperating teachers criticize you, it is pure criticism, not punishment or attack. They reminded us that the cooperating teachers are not scolding you or holding grudges against you based on your performance in the classroom. Rather, they are providing feedback—which may be harsh—to help you become a more effective teacher.