REFLECTION #1

I have been involved in the whole concept of teaching for most of my life but I never realized that I was actually teaching until I got a position at the Leon Hess Comprehensive Secondary School. It was as if a prophecy had been fulfilled. I remember vividly sitting in Mr. Felicien’s form five English language class a few weeks before CXC, when he decided to give us some advice on life. He started by categorizing students into particular fields in the world of work. Many students were destined to be doctors, and lawyers, and artists. Even authors and prime ministers, and jokingly he commented even baggers at J Q’s Supermarket. At that moment, he turned to me and said, “Not you! Walcott I have a strong feeling you are going to be a teacher!” I denied it and continued to do so all through A’ Level until 2006 when I was granted an interview and become a staff member of the Leon Hess Comprehensive Secondary School.
On my first day, I think I was more excited than the students because through my naïveté, I deemed that all students wanted to learn and I had a lot of information to impart. I was given the task of teaching Visual Arts, Theatre Arts, and English Literature to form fours, and integrated English to the form ones. I must admit, I saw this as a new, stimulating prospect, and believed that there was not much work to it.

When I started teaching I had no idea what I was up for. I did not know what to teach or how to go about teaching it, and it made me question my purpose and value at this job. In the first term, it was sort of trial and error for me, as no workshops or guidelines were put in place for new teachers. There was no help from senior teachers or heads of the department. Everyone was too busy so I did the only thing I knew, teach as I was taught and learn from my mistakes. I even tried to observe other teachers to get a feel of what I should do, but some of them seemed more clueless than me although they were in the system for many years. In addition, I never knew how to write a lesson plan and as a result, I believe I set higher standards for the students, clearly ones that most of them were unable to reach as they had not acquired the necessary foundations such as reading.

I do not suppose I ever fully understood the theory of content area reading and writing, and if I had any clue, I am convinced that I was unconscious of it. I encountered many problems in all my classes, especially English. The prevalent one was the fact that the students did not like to read, therefore they performed poorly on assignments and during exam time. As a result of this, I employed the notion of role playing techniques where I would dress up as particular characters to get the students interested in the various topics we were about to explore, or allow them to dramatize certain chapters in groups. I found this method to be very effective, as I noted increase participation and eagerness in many students.

Also, they found it difficult to work on their own and many of them did not have their own textbook. Therefore I structured many lessons to take into account the presence of group work, and the students felt more comfortable and confident about reading and actually began to share their ideas as they were able to grasp certain concepts thus showing their level of understanding through discussion. The most memorable activity was one called “Hot from the press” whereby each group was responsible for producing a newspaper based on specific chapters, themes or characters from the novels we were studying. This approach appeared to have helped a lot as the students were able to discuss and analyze various concepts and create remarkable pieces.
Although I found teaching integrated English very challenging, and tried to make it as exciting as possible for the students, many of the teachers who refused to help in the beginning frowned upon those techniques and remarked that the students could not possibly learn in such a manner. I sometimes had arguments with teachers who believed learning should only take place in the classroom, and as a result I was forced to partake in the “old fashioned” methods of chalk and talk.

Furthermore, many teachers believed that only the English teacher was supposed to correct spelling and subject verb agreement, and as a result, classified the students as lazy, dumb and unwilling to work. Many of these teachers fail to realize that we are all products of our environments, and consequently, the students react to the stimuli furnished by the teacher. If we amend their errors they learn, however if we do not they continue to perform in the same manner, and are nonetheless distinguished as hollow. I imagine that many teachers in other schools had many of the same problems as me. There were no workshops put in place to aid in the professional development of novice teachers, lack of training and suitable resources, we all went through the trial and error method and no support was given to us from senior staff. I suppose I was unlike many of them because I tried to find solutions to many of my problems which would aid my teaching as well as students. I found innovative ways to utilize the limited resources, learnt new things in order to have a more informed and exciting class, as well as enrolled in many workshops outside of the school community, in an effort to acquire new skills.
Equally important is the fact that many teachers view the task of content area reading and writing as tedious, time consuming and frustrating, so they just do not bother with teaching it. They constantly complain about the students but hardly ever make an effort to actually help them.

Furthermore, in my first year of teaching, I found that I was constantly reevaluating myself and trying hard to discover original ways to help students understand and equip them with the tools they need. I found it necessary to empower myself by relentlessly learning in order to teach accurate content and provide authentic learning experiences. In addition, I tried to cater to the needs of all my students although at times it seemed impossible. I recognized in my second year of teaching, I was able to devise strategies which enabled me to be more organized and in the end aid students even though at times many persons were not very open to change. I observed that every set of students is different. They keep evolving and so must you if you want them to take charge of their own education and learn. Even now I am still unsure of how to write a lesson plan, yet I find myself fervent about new lessons and strategies in an effort to continue to make a difference.

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Enjoy yourself and ponder on the following quote:

"Education is a passport for the future, and tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today!" Malcolm X

Gentle Breezes,

Desiree

Content Area Literacy

Which is more important: Reading to learn or learning to read?