Helpful Quotes for my First Year of Teaching

The following quotes from chapter 9 really shed some light on when things go wrong.

"[Teachers who lose the cooperation of the class] can try their best to get the respect of their class again. They can try things they didn't do before, things they know the students like" (P. 170 stated by Veronica).

As a substitute teacher this practice can really help when teaching a subject that is not in your own field. Having an activity ready for the when students finish their work is a good idea to prevent the class from getting out of control or disruptive to the students that are still working on the day's assignments. Asking the students what they like about the subject that you know best is a good initiation activity to the game you have planned. I haven't tried this yet, but I find it the most helpful way to keep the students learning and busy rather than out of control and disruptive. After I finished substitute teaching for the school year a professor recommended for me to create a game or an activity that has to do with my content area and engage the students in the activity. For the classes I was substituting for were not in my content area and the students finished their work almost an hour ahead of schedule. Students seem to react to teachers that care about what they are teaching and all students hate doing "busy work"--work that teachers give students just because a substitute is taking the place of the regular teacher for the day. It is up to us as teachers to be prepared for what ever situation might arise.


"Relax and take your mind off school for a while. Think about the kids: We need you, we want to get out of school and become someone. [Try to stay organized but relaxed]" (P. 171 stated by Montoya).

As a person who loves learning and thinking I am always coming across new material that I think would be helpful to a literature class when I am "relaxing" and then I try to find a way to incorporate the material I just found. Therefore I found the advice of this student most helpful in that I need to be reminded to just relax. Leave what happened at school at school and when I come home I just need to relax. I have a very thick skin when it comes to insults and failure as a teacher, but when I get home I let that all rise to the surface and I do take it personally. I don't let the supervisors or students know that I take it personally because I hide what I think and feel. I have to keep reminding myself to just relax when I get home and that the next day is a brand new day where I can start over and that yesterday's events are in the past.

The following quotes from chapter 10 helped me see that students want to be engaged in learning and it isn't always a fight to get students to learn on their own.

"For our final exam in English and world history we had a mock trial with a real judge and court typist. They separated us into defense and prosecution, with four lawyers on each side, and they set up a mock scene from Animal Farm in which a character Boxer supposedly dies. The defense was defending the guy who supposedly killed him. We had to dress up and go down to City Center for three or four hours. It was pretty fun. We learned more about the book, but we also learned how to follow court procedures, write direct testimony, and do cross-examination" (P. 177 stated by Andres).

As a teacher I know how important it is for students to go on field trips and engage in learning through real life experiences in a safe environment. Before I read this quote I didn't know what sort of outside experience I can bring to my student's learning of literature. I found this quote most helpful in finding an alternative way to engage students in the literature as well as exposing them to legal proceedings and procedures. The quote definitely supports critical thinking skills in a way I never would have thought to expose students.

"I watch poetry readings, go to Barnes and Noble. Reading about new things interests me whenever I have spare time. I like knowing things or interesting facts that others don't know. I once taught myself sign language" (P. 180 stated by Alexis).

I found this quote most helpful because teachers usually assume that students don't want to be in their class and they are only there because they have to be. Students that want to learn and are eager about information and do research on their own become an asset to the classroom environment. As students tend to accept information more readily from their peers and classmates than from a teacher, adult, or authoritarian. Therefore encouraging students to find information on their own not only benefits the individual student but also the collective. However not all students that do find information on their own are eager to share their knowledge. I am such a student and always have been. I enjoy finding information out on my own, but I rarely share what I know, most people aren't interested. As a teacher I get to share my knowledge and incorporate the different areas and subjects that I explore and correlate them to literature.