A visit from a past programming student

At the end of the day today, a student that I had in class last year came by my room. He wanted to ask me for some help with a program he had written, as he was taking an online Computer Science course and I taught him Introduction to Programming last year. It was nice to see him, and I told him that I missed his class from last year, as they were all pretty good kids. He had come to visit me at the end of 8th period, a class full of immature 9th grade boys. He filled me in on the classes he is taking this year, and that he plans to go to college for audio engineering after graduating. I love hearing what my students have planned for their futures!

It felt good to have him look to me for help, since his was the first class I have ever taught for the subject. I don’t have a background in programming, and so I was constantly worried I wouldn’t be doing a good enough job teaching the class. Looking back on it, I think I managed to do pretty well for a newbie. I wish it was something that I had taken when I was in school, but it’s never too late to learn something new! I try to share with potential computer science students the enormous opportunity in the field in our current job market. I will be running “The Hour of Code” for the 3rd year this December during Computer Science Education Week to get more students exposed to the possibility.

I came upon an article this morning about how Florida just passed a Bill to allow students the choice between a foreign and computer language for a graduation requirement. I think that it is beneficial whenever students are offered more choice in their education. For one, students are going to be more motivated to excel in a class that studies something that they chose, something that they are interested in. I showed the article to two foreign language teachers at my school over lunch. One, a Spanish teacher who will be retiring after this semester, said she liked the idea because she had too many students over the years in class who just weren’t interested in learning Spanish. The other, a brand new French teacher, was not impressed with the idea, saying that the two (foreign and computer languages) were completely different. What do you think?

Impromptu debates with students

Last week, on two different occasions, I was circulating in my classroom near the end of the period, and found myself in an impromptu debate with a student or two. I think this is one of my favorite parts of teaching. Some would call these “teachable moments”, when students ask a question or make a statement that presents an opportunity for the teacher to address something that might not have been on the lesson plan. An opportunity not necessarily to mold a young mind, but at least to encourage them to see and consider an alternative point of view. 

One of the situations I found myself in last week came about after discussing different factors that affect insurance premiums. Of course gender was one of them, and near the end of the period I had a male student begin discussing with me the merits of feminism. I won’t recount the whole conversation here, but I found myself smiling at the end of that class, pleased to know that a teenage boy actually thought about such an issue enough to initiate a conversation with me about it. I took the opportunity to recommend that he watch Emma Watson’s speech to the UN about the “He for She” campaign.

Another instance of impromptu debates occurred in a different class. I can’t even remember what spurred the discussion, but somehow the topic of oppression and affirmative action came up. Again, I won’t recount the details of the conversation, but I remember feeling energized by the fact that this was something teenagers actually thought about and had an opinion on. I was happy to have the opportunity to prod these opinions, asking them why they thought that, and what proof they had. I was glad to be able to point out things they hadn’t taken into consideration and ask questions that would make them think about the issue from another angle. 

Unplanned conversations like these give me hope that there are some young people out there that spend time thinking about things that are bigger than themselves, important issues that affect our society instead of simply what selfie they will post next on Instagram. 

My birthday cake

It was my birthday yesterday. Yes, on a Monday. Before school started I got the nicest surprise though… Some of the students in the LGBT friendly group that I advise presented me with a birthday cake!

They even decorated it to be the symbol for marriage equality!

  
Things like this and students like these make me love my job!

Quote

In my classroom I found a book. A book that a student had left. It must have fallen out of their bag. I opened it to see if a name was written inside anywhere, either of a teacher or a student. Inside this book I found a makeshift bookmark, which was a slip of paper I handed out in my personal finance class showing the parts of a check. On the back of that paper, was a quote. It just so happened to be the quote I have hanging on my closet door in my classroom. This made me smile. It’s nice to know that students actually notice the things I put up in my room. That they think about them. That they are impacted by them enough to bother writing one down on a piece of scrap paper to save for later.  

Patriotic students make me happy

The other day some of the students in my 3rd period class were still working on the computers when the announcements came on. One student did not stand up for the pledge of allegiance and instead continued to work. Luckily, I didn’t have to say anything to him about it because one of the other students did it for me. This particular student, I will call him Marty, wants to go into the marines after graduating. He called out the other student on his failure to stand and informed him that he was being disrespectful. When the other student tried to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal, Marty proceeded to ask if he was willing to enlist. Before the other student could answer, Marty said, “no? Then stand.”

I love it when students keep each other accountable for their actions. I think it often has more of an impact when it comes from a peer rather than a teacher.

Open House

Last night was our open house at the high school. For the past two years, I have had exactly zero visitors on this night. Apparently the night held at the middle school is swarming with parents and their kids, but by the time the students get to high school, many parents stop attending.

Last night however, I actually had four students and their parents come in. Granted, three of them were freshmen, and one a junior (I teach mainly 11 and 12th graders), but still – it was an improvement.

It was encouraging to hear from the parent of a girl (the junior) I had in my personal finance class. The girl’s mother was happy to hear that her daughter was learning useful skills like  writing and recording checks. I was glad to see that there was a parent that paid attention to what their child was learning in school! It was also nice to chat with others that agreed on the importance of such a class, because I feel very strongly that it should be a graduation requirement across the country. I spent a few minutes showing this mother the course outline so she could see what else I would be teaching her daughter this semester.

Although it was a long day, I was happy with how the evening went. I was able to get some work done between visitors, and felt I connected with the parents I got to speak to.

September Stories

Well, it’s been a busy first three weeks of school. I meant to post at least once a week, I really did! But at least I’m getting around to it before September is over.

My schedule: I teach 6 periods every day, and then I have one duty period and one prep period. I usually eat breakfast by 6am, so I’m hungry for lunch around 9 or 10am, but don’t get to eat until 11:40am.

I wanted to share some of the encouraging moments I’ve experienced so far with some of my students.

In the first few days I had my 9th grade American history students read an essay by JFK. After they finished I asked them to stand up if they were proud to be American. They all stood up, so I asked the person on the left side of the room to explain why they were proud to be American. Most of them looked frantic, searching their minds for some answer that would be acceptable and allow them to sit down. Some of the answers I was given included “the military”, “education”, and “FREEDOM!”. One student impressed me by saying “a strong dollar”, something I didn’t expect a 14-year-old to know much about. When I got to the last student, it was a tall, slightly awkward boy. He was wearing an American Eagle t-shirt with the American flag in the eagle silhouette, which was fitting. I don’t remember every word of his answer, but I will always remember how he spoke deliberately, with such pride and conviction. He said that American take action, that we are a nation of doers, and if there isn’t a road or a city, we build it. In that instant, I decided I really liked this kid.

That same first week, I was covering a study hall and noticed a student looking bored who happened to be in one of my new classes this year. I decided to chat with him and got around to asking him how he liked my class. He had told me before that he hadn’t picked it, he was just put in an elective. In this conversation, however, he said he discovered he was actually very interested in the content, and regarded it a happy accident to find himself in the class. I was pleased to hear this.

Last week a student who I haven’t had in class, but know through the LGBT friendly club that I advise, came to visit me in my classroom a few days after school. She is a sophomore this year, and is a sweet, somewhat self conscious, quirky girl that I couldn’t help but like as soon as I met her the year before. The first day she visited she asked about when our first meeting would be and informed me that she was about to audition for the school play. This year they are doing something called a “devised play”, where the students are going to write it together. The girl, I’ll call her Harriet, said that the teacher in charge was just going to pick the most talented students and she was really nervous. I wished her luck as she headed out. The next day I saw her in the hall and she told me that she had made it! She also asked me if I had any ideas about what inspired change, as that was going to be the theme of this devised play and each student was supposed to bring an idea with them to the first practice. I told her I would think about it and to see me at the end of the day. When she stopped in just after 3pm, I handed her a book from my shelf: “I am Malala”. Her face lit up and she said “Of course! This is perfect!”, and we proceeded to talk about how we both considered ourselves feminists. She told me that she had recently read about some research that had been done showing how much more often boys talked, and were called on to talk, in class. I told I believed it and even though I consider myself a feminist, I was probably guilty of it at times as a teacher. I made a mental note to try to be more conscious of it the next day in my classes. As she left, I realized how positive and energized our interactions had left me, and I couldn’t help but smile. I think Harriet felt the same way.