couzo's first blog

spontaneity

2006-06-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

I taught my last lesson of the summer today, and while I’m glad to be done, I do enjoy teaching. The topic was absolute value, something I had done well during the year. I tried to plan for it last night, but was more or less useless when it came to doing any work, so I gave up until this morning. (I also didn’t blog last night, so this post is a bit late. Did you highlight my name, Ben?)

Dave Molina let me borrow Radical Equations, a book by Bob Moses, describing the Algebra Project – a movement akin to the Civil Rights Movement pushing for mathematical fluency among minorities. To summarize, algebra is the new enfranchisement. Anyway, Moses’ whole idea is to teach algebra on field trips, specifically, on the T in Boston. There are obvious links to distance, displacement, direction, and the like.

This morning I decided we would take a trip down the halls. Our “field trip” consisted of three stops. First we stopped at a poster with the word “equality” written on it. My students discussed the idea of equality in mathematical terms. We then jumped off to the more general meaning of equality. They came up with examples, counterexamples, and explanations of various situations in which equality a central issue. Next, we walked to the trophy case and talked about the many ways in which basketball relates to math. They had to read some old newspaper clippings to ask questions of mine and, of course, we talked about the Dallas-Miami game that is on tonight. Our last stop was a poster with the word “inequality.” We had the same discussion about inequality that we did about equality.

One student was asked to write down anything interesting he saw or heard, while another student was counting the number of steps we took in each direction. Other than these two students, nobody else was required to do anything but take part in the discussions.

When we came back to the room, I drew a one-dimensional (line) picture of the trip we took. I labeled each stop on the trip and we briefly summarized what we talked about at each one. The step-counter filled in the number of steps in each direction on the picture, and I proceeded to ask a few questions leading in to absolute value.

How far was our end point from our starting point?
What was the distance we all walked during the trip?
Why are these answers not the same?

In all, the trip idea was successful. Math students need to move around and do things, even if the teacher is a good lecturer. And this got them thinking about distances in very real terms. After that, the link to absolute value was easy.

wik-ed

2006-06-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

Between two metanodes is a vectortext.

Palindromic Plants

2006-06-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

With the exception of Dr. Mullins’ class, an overwhelming majority of the hours we’ve spent in the “graduate” program at Ole Miss have been less than unproductive. That’s right, I said less than UNproductive. Professors don’t know how to handle the new Teacher Corps. It’s a problem with differentiation. Our strong academic, and in many cases personal, backgrounds make us a different animal entirely than traditional School of Education students. And this is exactly why the MTC exists: to recruit college graduates with exceptional content knowledge that have not yet suffered the lobotomy of education classes. But our professors are having a problem with differentiation – teaching to a wide range of ability levels. To some extent, this is understandable. Differentiation, in my opinion, is the single most difficult task as a teacher. It is my biggest failure. But I had zero years of experience. Our professors, however, ought to be able to differentiate between Teacher Corps members and everyone else.

Let me briefly state that this is not an attack on the program, nor am I venting my frustrations. I’m not ready to burn those bridges yet. This is also not a personal attack on our current professor (though I cringe at calling him by such a distinguished title).

We are currently enrolled in an online class. The actual title has slipped my mind, but please allow me to paraphrase: “The Internet: It’s Good and You Should Use It.” Granted, not all the higher ups were keen on requiring this class, but the fact remains we are responsible for completing the assignments. In theory, I have no problem with online classes. But let me outline the absurdity we have thus encountered.

1. Our professor refuses to meet with us and has not given us sufficient methods of contact. We must e-mail him, and if he gets back to us (he doesn’t always) it is certainly not in a timely manner. It’s as if this guy doesn’t exist, except to scold (not criticize, more on that below) our attempts at adding substance to very unsubstantial content.

2. Take a look at the rubric for one of the weekly assignments (below). Notice that there are no explanations for the assigning of points, nor is it clear where the cutoff for acceptable work lies. Based on my rudimentary knowledge of rubrics, this is a pathetic attempt at objectivity. And I think grading objectively (let’s assume it can even be done) is misguided! Okay, so five is the best and one is the worst. How do I get a five? A one? If you are claiming to be objective when grading (and this is the point of a rubric) than the rubric needs to be crystal clear. If you grade subjectively – and let’s be honest, this is the only way we grade – your expectations of good work also need to be lucid. This rubric fails on both accounts.

3. Our professor has personally attacked us. Part of the course requirements is to maintain an online discussion forum amongst each other. We post our comments on the reading and discuss various issues that are raised. A number of us pursued a liberal arts education in which the process of learning is often more highly regarded than the material actually learned. Thus, we are predisposed to engage in philosophical discourse by using a given text as a jumping off point. In our “community of learning” (our professor’s language) we would rather hash out the overarching concepts. But our professor claims that our discussion is a waste of time and contains no substance. Here is one of his comments:

“Nice philisophical [sic] ranting but can you get to your point?”

Our professor claims we are missing the point, not actually saying anything substantive. But the real problem is that the curriculum thus far has no substance! We’re doing our best to discuss the reading, but in order to do so we have to transcend the jargon and inane statements such as “experts have expertise.” Our professor is suppressing intellectual discourse…

“Okay, guys, you sure are loading the website up without saying anything. So is that what you do in your classes with your students? Have these great philisophical [sic] discussions and say nothing of any real substance. If any of you have bothered to look, the reading material comes from classroom research done by the National Academies of Science. I’d like to think that they weren’t just a committee of folks posting philosophical rants like I’ve been reading.”

“But the rest of you miss the point whether on purpose or not. […] Life is not about being automotrons [sic] popping out the correct answer, it’s about facing fluid problems and having the skills to think for yourself and solve them.”

Thanks, professor, for ensuring future teachers learn to think for themselves and are not scolded for metapedagogy!

changes

2006-06-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

This year I am restructuring the curriculum. After spending the better part of a year attempting to fill in knowledge gaps in my 7th grade students, I have come to the conclusion that the major problem isn’t lack of knowledge. My students knew rules and steps to solving problems, however the information was never presented in a way that emphasizes connections and continuity between units. Specifically, fractions, decimals, and percents were all more or less understood in isolation. Lacking, though, was comprehension of the equality of these concepts.

My plan is to first ground my students with a solid introduction to the number line. We will explore questions such as: How many numbers are there? Are all numbers greater than zero? Are there different types of numbers? How do we know when one number is greater than another? Is there a way of organizing numbers? Asking these questions to my summer school students was an excellent introduction to the concepts I expect to cover.

After developing the foundation of numbers and the number line I will introduce each concept one at a time. First decimals, then fractions and mixed numbers, followed by percents. The idea is to first include decimals on the number line. After students understand that decimal numbers fit in between the integers we will move onto fractions. Fractions will be introduced as a new concept and students will learn to manipulate and operate on fractions. Then they too will be incorporated on the number line. I will guide my students to connect locations of common fractions and their equivalent decimal numbers on the number line. My hope is that students will be able to apply the continuity between fractions, decimals, and percents to word problems and real world scenarios.

I failed to introduce the number line until the last nine weeks when my pacing guide said I was supposed to teach integers and negative numbers. It was an invaluable tool for comparing, adding, and subtracting negative integers and I believe it will prove quite useful for connecting basic concepts as well.

student

2006-06-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

In and out of psychiatric wards; completely dysfunctional family life; behavioral problems. These are not qualities one would expect from a young math genius…or maybe they are. Time and again, individuals who are able to wrestle with the complexities of math independent of a tutor have progressed mathematical thinking to a higher plane. Often, they are misfits – socially unable to adapt or interact with their environment. Some believe it is the level of abstraction necessary to advance ideas in math that prevent them from normal psychological development. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that genius and social ability do not often go hand in hand.

A student of mine fits the description above. He has been tested often for mental illness and psychological disorders. His family is a wreck. And he has spent more days at home suspended from school for fighting than he has in my class. Nobody teaches this kid math, yet somehow he just gets it. His test scores are among the highest in his grade and on the rare occasion that he graces my class with his presence he is able to figure out and understand some pretty high level mathematics.

In no small way, I wish the education system would get out of his way so that he can give real thinking a try. Administrators, teachers, and students are always pushing his buttons (of which there are many) and, being a loose cannon, he loses it. One of his teachers even refers to him as “Columbine.” Clearly, he is unstable. Through no fault of his own, he doesn’t know how to interact with other people. But it is also a terrible waste to keep him in a system set up for students like him to fail.

The tragedy of it all is that nobody has told him what a gift he has. Rather than nurturing his intellect and working with his needs, schools send him home or keep him in the office – apart from the very people that are able to cultivate his intellect.

And with this last sentence I should meet the word requirement.

last january blog

2006-02-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

I think I would take a pay cut if I could go from class to class talking about space. With the anniversaries of the Challenger and Columbia disasters last week I spent a large portion of my time talking about space travel and NASA. I went to a few classes during my planning period and showed videos and talked about the space shuttle program. Plus I had an excuse to spend $70 on toys.

another blog

2006-02-03T15:27:00.000-08:00

Friday's are great. No school the next day, plus Smokehouse wings and a case of beer. But Fridays like the one today aren't so great. We have to go back to Ole Miss tomorrow. We'll rot in a classroom for eight or so hours wondering why we did this program in the first place. It's not that the classes are bad (although the fall semester was, more or less, the worst thing I've ever done in my life). In fact, Dr. Mullins could probably read the nutrition facts from a box of cereal and make it sound fascinating. The problem is that after about two hours I shut down. Whatever notes I may have been taking I no long care about, and I'm more concerned about the weather next Tuesday than I am with my upcoming assignments. The solution is to make classes shorter, but if we do that, we'll probably have to go to Oxford more. And I'm not down with that. I wouldn't mind more academics and less class time. For example, I would trade a 10-12 page paper for an hour or two cut out of each class.

deductive vs. inductive

2005-10-28T15:51:00.000-07:00

Inductive teaching strategies seem to offer more in the long run. Through inductive learning, students stumble upon the concepts themselves. I believe those that teach themselves are more affected by their studies. My experience in college was that the material learned through tutorials stuck longer than that thrown at me in lecture. Inductive learning, however, requires an involved and motivated student. For this reason, inductive teaching lessons were few and far between. One did work well, though. The lesson was writing numbers in scientific notation. The first half was constructing a powers of ten chart. The students built a general theory around a few examples after noticing the pattern.

Most of my lessons are deductive. They are quick and easy to plan and can be very effective. But a deductive lesson needs to be real good to stand out like inductive strategies. Every now and then I get bored with them and so do my students, but overall I think they work well.

I'm finding it hard to incorporate inductive strategies while teaching seventh grade. They need the strict direction that deductive strategies provide. You can't let two dozen 12 years olds loose with a lofty goal in mind. They need focus and a clear purpose.

classroom management evaluation

2005-10-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

Classroom management, thankfully, is the least of my worries at school. I feel that I have things very under control. Students respect me and pay attention.

What changes have you made to your plan?

Well, having kids stay after class is a joke. I don't have time to deal with them as another class is coming in, and they don't really care anyway. So it's really just a series of warnings, then detention, then referalls. The number of referalls I've been giving has dropped significantly. Detention is working like a charm.

What parts of your plan have worked/didn't work?

Detention, and detention. Most students don't want it and will do anything to avoid it - even behaving themselves. But others didn't care because they knew they weren't coming anyway. I talked to the administration about the detention skippers and they stood behind me 100 percent. Any student that skips detention is over night suspended, which means the parents have to bring their kid to school. Since this happened, instances of behavior problems have dropped off significantly.

Has your philosophy of classroom management changed?

Not really. I still feel that a well managed class is part of being a successful teacher. The student is also most responsible for their own education. Teachers are simply facilitators. However, great teachers can turn poor students into successes, and vice versa.

october update

2005-10-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

October has come and is soon to be gone. I thought it was a good month. Nothing like Ben said it would be. In fact, I'd say it's been my best month yet. My relationship with my students are getting better and I'm finally seeing some improvement in my student's scores. I failed 60 or so kids and that seemed to wake most of them up to the fact that my class isn't going to be easy. Most of them failed because they weren't doing any work, not because they were unable. I gave a quiz last week and there were more A's and B's than any other grades combined. Classroom management is under control. The adminstration is very supportive of my decision to hold detention. If a student skips, he's suspended. End of story. I've started playing basketball with some students after school on Thursdays. It's a lot of fun to hang out with the students outside of the classroom.

sweet, sweet ms. burns

2005-09-03T21:49:00.000-07:00

Ms. Burns was my high school calculus teacher, and one of my favorite teachers. She was an older lady, though not white-haired. Her personality really meshed well with my learning style and sense of humor. Ms. Burns had the driest, most sarcastic sense of humor I have encountered to date. I don't learn too well from teachers that take themselves or their material too seriously, and Ms. Burns, though brilliant, did not do either. She knew the material like the back of her hand, and always had the correct answer to a question. Her explanations were clear and arguments cogent. As one of her students, I feel I grasped the elegance and over-arching theory of calculus, not just the mechanics of taking derivatives and evaluating integrals. As a physics major, understanding the "inner-workings" of the calculus proved invaluable.

Somehow, Ms. Burns was able to make even the stupid and trivial calculus problems, if not fun and interesting, at least bareable. In class, she was always cracking jokes and sarcastically making fun of her favorite students ( me :) ). Outside of class, Ms. Burns was available for extra help and seemed to assign exactly the right amount of homework to master the concepts. I understand that she was at an incredible advantage in teaching the best and the brightest at our school, but I believe she also taught remedial math at some point in her career.

Ms. Burns is one of my favorite teachers that I have ever had. She inspired me to see the beauty of math, not just the utility. Though I will probably never be the teacher she is, I try to take some of the lessons I learned from her. Most importantly, I am incorporating humor in the classroom. Just one problem: most of my sarcasm doesn't reach my students.

Katrina: Day 3

2005-08-31T19:58:00.000-07:00

I feel a little bit like Jonah. I've lived in Florida for years, and hurricanes are no big deal for me. Then, out of the blue, my house in Orlando gets hit directly by three storms last summer, a hurricane comes up to Oxford this summer, and Katrina heads, more or less, right for me on Monday. A part of me can't help but feel it's partially my fault. In all seriousness, though, this hurricane was the worst I've ever seen. Worse than Andrew, worse than Hugo. By now most of you have seen the reports of devestation and loss. It's incredible.

As a science buff, I'm fascinated by the storm. Visually, they are beautiful. So symmetric and powerful; hurricanes are giant water pumps churning across the tropics. I have decided to have an entire day devoted to the science of hurricane formation and evolution. I guess this is the ultimate teachable moment. Far enough away to escape damage, but close enough to home to feel the danger.

It's weird, my grandparents in south Florida told me about Katrina a day or so after it hit them as a weak hurricane. They were without power and more or less annoyed and inconvenienced, but nothing like the Gulf Coast. Meteorologically, Katrina is quite phenomenal. I've never seen a storm increase in size and strength in such a short amount of time. Had it hit twelve hours sooner, I'm convinced there would be no New Orleans or Gulf Port or Biloxi to speak of. As bad as she was, Katrina weaked substantially before coming ashore.

I have no TV so all my reports are coming by radio or online newspapers. Schools here were closed on Tuesday, so I read the updates every 30 minutes online. It was stunning and sobering. Maybe it's time I be thrown overboard.

first weeks

2005-08-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

I'm in my second full week now and it's been going great, except for today. I'm taking a break from grading quizzes because I'm so disappointed in their scores. It's not so much that they have trouble adding and dividing - in a way, I was expecting that. What really bothers me is that nobody - nobody - asks for help. We're finishing up the measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode) and I gave them a pop quiz today. Right before, I reviewed everything again and again and again. I called on a wide range of students, asked how and why questions, and had them make predictions. There didn't seem to be any problems. When I asked the class to ask for clarifications on anything they didn't understand, nobody said anything. I even asked if they would all get 100s if I gave a pop quiz and everybody said yes. So far in my grading, about 3/4 of them are going to fail.

Today's disastrous quiz aside, I love it in Quitman County. The students are a lot of fun and for the most part respectful. The real problem students have been removed from my classroom and the special ed teacher has taken it upon himself to become my mentor, which is fine by me. My classroom management has been great. I'm teaching 7th grade, so the age gap is a bit larger. I have to say, I like the arbitrary power I have over them. So far, no student has explicitly refused any of my requests or demands. When I say "sit", they sit. When I say "move", they move. My 6th and 7th periods have a tendancy to get loud and are distracted easily, I think this is due to the fact that it is the end of the day. The 7th graders are locked into "class groups". Although they change classes, the students within the groups do not change. From the students' point of view, there are only 20 or so classmates. The general trend us 7th grade teachers have seen is that as the day progresses, the classes start to get more out of hand. But my first three periods are amazingly well behaved.

About four days in I broke up my first fight. It was 7th period during the afternoon announcements. This kid, Melvin Wise, who thankfully is no longer in my class, was sitting down in a desk and swung at this tiny kid, Jerry. Melvin hit him in the mouth and then slammed him against my door. He was about to hit him again, but I grabbed him by the shoulders and quite forcefully threw him back in his desk. I stood over him, leaving only one or two inches between us while the janitor got the assistant principal. I didn't really think about what was happening, I just reacted. But now I feel like a delta teacher.

A few things I've noticed about my students:
They have this pressing need to throw away their trash...immediately. Almost as if it pains them to have to look at it. Every single day, I'll get a dozen requests per class to throw away their trash. After a few days of this, I announced to the class that trash will be thrown away at the end of class as they walk out the door. Since then, I've ignored all other requests to throw away trash. It's not even like they are sitting at small desks. They're four to a picnic table!
They are also all guilty of excessive pencil sharpening, and they aren't very good at it either. Pencils can't just write, they must have the ability to inflict bodily harm with their points. Nothing is more important to my students than having the sharpest pencil in class. And that's real annoying.

Now I'm just rambling...

One day I heard a loud, intermittent whacking noise coming from the hall. I tried to ignore it but it was real loud. I asked my students if they heard it too, and they laughed. They clearly knew something I did not. It turns out a bunch of students were being beaten out in the hall by the assistant principal. This is my first experience with corporal punishment and I'm shocked at how hard these kids are hit. I hate that it is the policy at my school because I don't want to send students to the office, but sometimes they are just so unruly. I was even told to make my own paddle so I could beat my own kids.

Our school was victim to a break in last week. As if we didn't have enough problems...

Oh, I almost forgot. I'm the girls softball head coach. This is definitely the coolest part of my day. The team is 7th - 12th graders and the field is over at the high school. I like being called Coach Couzo. I just think that sounds so cool. We're 3-0.

That's about it. I went to a blues festival with Rob in Clarksdale last weekend. I'm sure he blogged about it. I'm done. Peace.

last blog of the summer

2005-07-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

This is the last one for Mrs. Monroe's class. Here's a list of suggestions to make the program better:

1. Interest-free loans: Since we don't get paid until the end of August, some of us are going to be pretty strapped for cash this month. Especially because deposits on rent, electricity, and phone service aren't cheap. I had to write a check for $900 for my landlord before he even gave me the keys to my house. That's the whole summer stipend right there. Plus, we have to buy furniture, appliances, groceries, and transportation (gas) to and from our humble abodes. We have guaranteed jobs (right?) so a loan from Ole Miss could be paid off easily in the coming months.

2. More classroom management practice: I'm sorry, watching one role playing scene of a student getting mad about a final grade does not cut it. We need practice disciplining students. It will be our biggest challenge and I find it quite absurd that we haven't done it yet. I am sure we will run into situations in the first few months that far exceed what Joe and Joel told us. I know Ben is planning this for next year's group, but it needs to be hands on. Watching others doing it isn't good enough. And as ridiculous as some of us may feel disciplining each other, I do think it should be included in the 9 lesson plans we just did at Lafayette. Content delivery is important, but not if the students aren't listening to the teacher. I was surprised and disappointed by the lack of preparation in this area.

3. Teacher certification: There has got to be a way to get us certified before the last week of classes here. I start teaching - teaching, not teacher work days - a week from thursday. Not only am I screwed for rent and utilities if I receive substitute pay but I have the added burden of applying for certification myself (on top of everything else that accompanies being a new teacher). How about the day after we sign the contracts? We're all committed to the program and teaching. Ben, you've got to be able to find a way to make it happen. I hope there isn't a problem, but it would be a huge setback if there is. You want to make this the best alternative route program in the country? Ensure our teacher pay from day one.

That's pretty much all I can think of right now. I love the MTC and it's hard to say anything bad about it, but take the above considerations seriously. It will only improve the program.

peace.

moving in

2005-07-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend I really started moving into my house in Marks. My parents came up to help out, which was outstanding. I couldn't imagine what it would have been like without having them come up. Things like mopping the floors, cleaning the bathrooms...i never would have even though about doing them. We worked all day saturday and about half of sunday - until they had to leave that afternoon. We stayed saturday night in clarksdale at Ground Zero Blues Club. We went for dinner and to hear some music, but they had these sweet apartments above the club. They rent them out for $75/night and they are NICE. We went to bed pretty early, around midnight, because we had to start working at the house at the crack of dawn to finish up some things. The morning drive back to Marks was nice, we saw the sunrise over the delta farm lands.

Today I went back to my house with Adryon and Jess. They really helped get the house more in order. I really owe them a lot, they worked harder and faster than I thought possible. And they cleaned my windows - something I certainly would not have done. The house is really starting to come together. I have some furniture and blinds on most of the windows. One more solid day's work and it will be liveable.

video

2005-07-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

I never know what to write when I do this. I'm not much for keeping journals...

I watched myself give a lesson on numerical and variable expressions last week. Besides being about the least stimulating topic I can imagine, I watched it on a three inch lcd panel, so please understand why I am less than enthusiastic about this. First of all, I find it really hard to critique myself on a topic like this. The material is as familiar to me as my own name, and the same is true for my group. So I have no idea if I am effectively delivering the content. I need seventh graders with seventh grade brains to determine that for me. The lesson I gave made sense to me, but then again, it made sense to me before I watched the tape.

What I have been trying to work on is allowing silence to creep into my lessons. I have a tendency to shy away from not talking. I guess I feel that unless I'm telling my students something every minute, they aren't learning enough. It can be distracting, though, if I don't let concepts sink in. This simulation with the teaching groups feels more like a performance than a real lesson, so I feel as though I am constantly being watched (which is true). But my students will not be judging my performance at the front of the classroom the same way. They will be learning material (well, hopefully) and won't have time to concentrate on me the whole time. I need to give them this opportunity to soak it all in.

I also saw on the tape that I pace a little bit. I've been trying to work on it, but I think the problem is that, in these groups, there are only four students. In three steps, I can walk by all of them, so "walking the classroom" is walking back and forth, back and forth. When I have 25 kids, there will be a little more variety in my manuevering.

Okay, I need to post this so I can get it up by midnight.

reflections

2005-07-04T23:47:00.000-07:00

I just saw Life Aquatic...brilliant movie. But a David Bowie song got me thinking. The song is titled "Life on Mars?". Well, wouldn't it be funny if Bowie had it right 30 years ago? I mention this because a student in my class thought it would be neat if there was life out there. And that's why we do that thing we do...for the children.

Right before my first lesson, i was pretty nervous. I had sat in on the class for a few days while Matt and Kate had their way with them. They looked like a pretty unruly bunch if they weren't interested in what was happening at the front of the room. I also noticed they responded well to the threat of a quiz at the end of the material. My job, then, was to keep them interested and scared. The second was the easy part. Focusing their attention proved to be the most difficult task of the summer session. Demonstrations only go so far, and often they make a mockery of the whole process. I decided to give them the opportunity to make a perfect on the quiz by telling them every single question I was going to test them on the next day. Everytime something important came up I said, "You might want to write this down and remember it. It will be number so and so on tomorrow's quiz." Overall, this was extremely effective. Not only did a strong majority of the students pass (every single one in the second period), about 30% scored a 100. I thought this was cool, but the best part was yet to come. A week or so later, when I was teaching the energy unit, I asked them questions on the previous material (Newton's 3 laws of motion). Collectively, the class remembered everything! I was shocked. Plus I had a lot of fun up at the front of the room.

Demos and group activities are key. If a kid isn't interested in learning, you need to make him or her actively involved. One student, who I was able to tame after two or so lessons, came up to me after class one day and asked why we didn't do lab activities everyday (we were doing acid/base indicators). I thought about it, because it was a valid question. I explained to her that there are two types of scientists: the doers and the thinkers. The doers are the lab rats, feverishly working on a experimental evidence to further bolster or disintegrate a scientific theory. They seem to have the best job because they are actually doing something. Theorists, I explained, derive joy from a completely different activity. I tried to make her imagine what it would be like to think of an entirely new way of doing things - a new idea. Once we were in agreement that such an instance would be really cool, I (hopefully) got her to understand that most new ideas in science come from pencil and paper. And that these great theorists worked on regular old problems that their teachers made them do. But they found mistakes in the science. These theorists essentially proved their teachers wrong and dictated to the doers, the other type of scientists, what they should be, well, doing.

Granted, that may be overreaching a bit with a 14 year old, but it was cool she listened anyway.

reluctant disciplinarian

2005-07-04T16:18:00.001-07:00

Reluctant Disciplinarian was a very easy and interesting read. A topic as subjective as teaching ought to be presented in this way more often. Everyone has their own styles; different methods work better for others. Rubinstein provided us with an overview of what worked for him. More importantly, he gives the reader common mistakes he made in his first years teaching.

While reading the text, I remember thinking, “Wow, that’s a really good point. I should write that down somewhere.” Sadly, I never did that. With every turn of the page I found more and more ideas that sounded extremely helpful. One day this summer, I will definitely reread the book and earmark certain pages with mistakes I know I will make.

I appreciated the humor in the book. Discipline was boring as a student; it sounds even worse as a teacher. Making the book an enjoyable read allowed some of the fundamental, yet often overlooked, aspects of discipline to sink in. His personal anecdotes helped me visualize myself at the front of a classroom making his mistakes or trying his techniques.

cold calling

2005-07-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

Of the three questioning techniques we discussed, I found cold calling to be the most effective. Calling on students that weren’t paying attention was particularly fun. I know Mrs. Monroe said that shaming a student was a bad idea, but I did get some sick satisfaction out of making a student feel embarrassed because he was sleeping or not paying attention. For a (very) short while after that, he paid attention. On the flip side, a student that was paying attention allowed me to praise that student and hopefully create a desire for that praise in the others.

I did find one problem with this method, however. And it is related to a larger issue in education: do you teach to the smartest kids and help them realize their full potential, or do you try hardest to bring the worst performing kids back on track? Personally, I would teach to the smartest students. If a student is interested in a subject and shows promise for greater understanding, isn’t our job as teachers to help that student along at all costs? What if the other students don’t care? But then somebody could counter that I’m showing favoritism amongst my students. Oh, what to do…what to do…

questions, concerns, and comments on my teaching ability

2005-06-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

I sat down earlier tonight to watch my taped lesson from this morning and the first thing I noticed was how good looking I am. Damn, I am one fine teacher. I played with the pause button for a while to find myself in my favorite teacher pose. Here it is: head cocked to one side listening attentively to a student, boyish grin on my face, hands on my hips, and twinkle in my eye. I should have no problem controlling my female students with a quick wink. But then I started thinking. Being an extremely attractive male teacher will not help me manage the guys. To further exacerbate that problem, I spent about 80% of the lesson with a smile on my face. I’m sorry, I can’t help it. I’m real good looking and it makes me smile. A lot.

Seriously though, that is something I will have to work on. I am an good-natured and happy person. And while that may work in the real world, it won’t necessarily work in my classroom. All the advice we have received has warned against smiling and appearing as the students’ friend. Before this summer started, my idea of a good teacher was someone who befriended his or her students. I’m going to have to learn that I can care about them while still maintaining that aura of one who commands respect.

Another major problem I noticed from watching the video was that I allow students to interrupt me at any point in my lecture if they have a question. I didn’t even notice I was doing it. I also never realized how disruptive it is for someone listening to the lecture. I don’t really believe in a “you can only talk if you raise your hand first” policy, but it was very helpful to experience the disturbance caused by questions that could wait until I finished my sentence of point.

All in all, I was surprised at how much of a teacher I look like. I don’t really feel like one yet. And though I feel comfortable in front of the room, I still felt like the students were looking at me as more of a peer than a teacher. But then again, it helps to be really handsome.

Marks, MS

2005-06-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

I met my principal for the first time the other day. I had talked to him a number of times and I got the impression he never remembered who I was. He was always, “Mr. Couzo…Mr. Couzo…Yes, Mr. Couzo…that’s right.” So it was nice to give him a name to the face. I was surprised at how young he was. He sounded like a much older man, but he looked to be in his early forties. I was excited to see the school and the town. The Internet doesn’t really know Marks exists and it confuses Quitman Country with Quitman, GA.

The school is in much better shape than I thought it would be. The halls were clean, and the classrooms were large, bright, and well kept. The students I passed in the hall were well behaved and polite, as were the other adults. Maybe that’s just a southern thing. Much of the conversation I had with Principal Holeman was centered on his wanting me to teach biology and me saying I can’t do it. Still, he insisted I could get “emergency certification” to teach the subject. This is a little unnerving because I haven’t had a biology class since I was a freshman in high school. But I do remember him asking me if I could teach the subject since I first talked to him in April. I seem to remember saying no, and every other time since then. I was also a little confused by his constant reference to the need to check with the superintendent about hiring me. I thought it was a done deal a while ago. What do I do if, come late July, he says, “Sorry, Mr. Couzo, we just can’t fit you in.”? I mean, I need to find a place to live. But as Ben said, we’re placed where we’re placed because, in large part, the systems are less than perfectly organized. I just hope it doesn’t become a problem because I found this sweet little one-bedroom, two-story house about five miles from the school. It’s on the good side of the tracks in Marks. The neighborhood is well-kept and walking distance to the town’s one restaurant and 100-ft long commercial district.

I’m real excited to be moving to Quitman County. I can see myself living there easily. The owners of the restaurant already know me, and I have a table. This is exactly the small town experience I was hoping for. Principal Holeman said the students at the school are very well behaved, and if I have any problems I should not hesitate to send them to Vice-Principal Clay to have them beaten. I thought it was weird the way he just casually slipped that into the conversation. I was shocked to find out corporal punishment is still used, let alone in my school. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I mean, if it gets results, great. But shouldn’t we be above paddling students for misbehaving?

WILLIAMS SWEEPS AMHERST IN TOURNEY

2005-06-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

OXFORD, Mississippi - Tensions were high. The discomfort caused by the other’s presence was felt strongly on both sides. Loved ones were concerned that heated trash talk would soon escalate to physical violence. Yet, while it is not unheard of for Williams and AmHerst students and alumni to resort to blows, the group that relocated to Oxford, MS took a more sophisticated route – Beirut. The be all, end all of athletic competition.

Beirut, for those that don’t know, is a simple game. Known in the more barbaric and god-less circles as beer pong, the object of the game is to toss ping-pong balls into your opponents’ cups of beer located on the opposite end of a table (regulation length: 6’x3’). The 12, or six if your school was named for a bio-terrorist (more on that later), cups are arranged in two triangular racks of six cups. Teams of two go head to head until all of one team’s cups have been hit. When a cup is hit, say by a Williams student, the AmHerst duo must remove the cup from the table and drink the contents.

Though easy to learn, Beirut takes a lifetime to master. In Williamstown, home of the Williams College Ephs (after Ephraim Williams, provider of the dream and means to found the college), a lifetime is equivalent to freshman year. Still considered rookies around campus, freshmen are more than capable of wreaking havoc on any outsiders that dare challenge an Eph to ‘rut. The AmHerst Lord Jeffs (after Lord Jeffrey Amherst, known bio-terrorist and inspiration for Hitler and bin Laden, amongst others), on the other hand, can’t seem turn itself into the powerhouse it wants to be.

Williams and AmHerst have one of the great historic, albeit one-sided, rivalries in the collegiate world. In 1821, the president of Williams College, Zephaniah Swift Moore, kidnapped half of the student body and stole many of the College’s textbooks and marched east toward the Connecticut River Valley to found a new college. This treacherous plan had been in the works for a few years, and it came as no surprise when historians discovered that more evil was afoot than previously thought. Lord Jeffrey Amherst, the town’s and college’s namesake, it turns out, committed acts of bio-terrorism. Like Ephraim Williams, namesake of Williams College and Williamstown, Lord Amherst fought alongside the British in the French and Indian War. Unlike Williams, however, Lord Amherst believed in exterminating the Native Americans with smallpox. His troops distributed blankets and handkerchiefs contaminated with the disease, causing their eradication.

Since that fateful day in 1821, Williams students have been devoted to beating the shit out of AmHerst in, well, everything. Aware of their dark past, AmHerst students, in kind, have taken to their role of being beaten by the Ephs, though every now and then some naïve pair will challenge their archrivals to a Beirut game. It’s actually rather cute.

And this is exactly what happened two nights ago. David “Running Scared” Molina ’05 and Marcie “I’m Not Actually A Part Of The Program” Griffith ’05 of AmHerst had the gall to suggest a friendly game or two of Beirut to Williams alum Joel “I’m Not A Ringer, I Swear” Hebert ’04 and Evan “The Couz” Couzo ’05. Problem is, nothing is friendly between these two schools.

The stage had been set for last night’s bloodbath. Couzo and Hebert prepped for the big showdown by donning all Williams gear and eating a big meal high in carbs. Molina and Griffith, meanwhile, peed their pants.

At precisely 8:04 PM, it began. The Williams crew arrived at Molina’s apartment befouled by not one, not two, but three Lord Jeffs. Holding their breath and crossing themselves, Couzo and Hebert stepped over the threshold and entered the AmHerst den. After brief small talk, the two teams, realizing the importance of the occasion, quickly went over the house rules.

Game One was a feeling out period for both sides. Williams, fearing over-confidence, wanted to see exactly what their opponents could throw at them. The Ephs jumped to a quick lead thanks to Hebert’s opening streak of three cups. Couzo hit his first, but struggled for much of the rest of the game. Molina and Griffith proved to be streaky in this first match. Throwing blanks in the beginning, they started carpet-bombing the racks opposite them. Balls were flying, beer was splashing…and then it happened! Williams discovered (one of) AmHerst’s (many) weakness(es) – Molina can’t handle the trash talk. A one cup advantage for AmHerst quickly unraveled and Williams took the first game with back to back shots by Hebert.

After Game One, AmHerst never had a chance. Couzo, feeding on his deep hatred for all AmHerst rugby players, more than made up for his poor performance in the first game. Game Two was over before it started, ending with a crowd-pleasing one-two by Hebert and Couzo, respectively, to end the match. Games Three and Four were never a contest for the all-star Ephs. Couzo found his groove early on and Hebert continued to assert his dominance on the table.

And so it came to be, 1300 miles away from the beautiful Berkshires. Williams 4, AmHerst 0.

test

2005-06-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

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