The strength of the youth is inspiring.

This weekend was my first work on professional development. It was a conference about LGBT and creating and ensuring a safe classroom environment. What an inspiring weekend to be able to witness over a hundred LGBTIAQ kids come together in one setting for a weekend celebration ending with a "alternative" prom. This was a prom designed to come as your are with not judgements, or as super hero of course. During the meetings there was several talks about making sure that the youth are safe and comfortable in classroom. This event was so eye opening and amazing. I felt like the kids that attended were so expressive of themselves. There was so much color and wildness that was just a huge display of love and unity amongst kids. there was no judgement or hate, but instead smiles and enjoyment of great company and human interaction, all appropriate of course.

While listening to these speakers talk about their kids spanning from straight to transgender, I felt so embarrassed that my confidence and pride was far lesser than these individuals. For months I have been battling if I should come out to my students. I say to myself, "I'm sure they all know," Knowing darn well that they don't. It is why I have a cube of Logan and I on my desk. To defer the question. I also think, "It wont make a difference, they'll still hate math." "They don't care." and anything else that could be said to block myself and convince myself that being ambiguous is just better.
I am at a hard place, my students are doing very well, kids respect me for what I do and want to be in my class. They enjoy learning math from me, or at least I hope. I battle with the real importance of me coming out. Would I push some students away?

I already mentor the Gay Straight Transgender Alliance group. I coach the cheerleading team. I have had students feel safe to be themselves and come out to me. I feel that my connection with the LGBT at my school embraces my presence as an ally, would it make a difference if I was gay, and more than an ally. I wonder if kids would feel empowered to me more independent from my coming out, would administration skew against this? More importantly, would my students continue to learn math from one of their favorite teachers or would my being gay block this learning? Should I just keep my personal life personal and focus on my job of teaching math? This constant game of devils advocate it getting tiring.

Hearing and seeing the strength these kids have to everyday be themselves knowing they are going to be picked on is inspiring but also defeating. Their is still such a struggle to be yourself in a public place. I wish that students would feel real and open with my environment to focus on the learning at hand, instead of the hatred being thrown. These kids are able to channel this negativity as fuel for themselves. They do not surrender and hold their flame high. I open my door to them and all kids of any life to be welcome and have a teacher/mentor/friend. I however,  hope to be as strong and courageous as those who attended this meeting and continue to show the world their true colors. Until then the battle will continue.

ARE WE DONE YET?!

My recent goals have been going well. I feel that there is a a much better vibe in my classroom as a whole that is helping for students to succeed better. I have started to be more firm about tangents within the classroom. Increasing the focus has provided the students with better notes for the quiz that was given today.

Recently I have had a large influx of students asking, "Are we done yet?" Which is clearly starting to get under my skin as it does with a parent driving a car on a long distance road trip. I am aware that taking notes can be quite a painful task even more so when I hate the sound of my voice, however at some point this is needed for understanding,reinforcement, and instruction. I do think that I have condensed notes that keep things brief and time at the board limited. I allow the kids chances to get to the board and slow the pace of the class. However, it never seems to fail that the students are relentless. I know that there needs to be put a cap on this expression so that I do not lose my sanity. I am not sure of what approach I should take.

I think that my classroom has been better that I provide many digraphs around my room. I like to provide visuals in my room of the chapter that we are currently on so that kids can be use these instead of cheat on their phone or computer. I also think that the visuals help students feel more comfortable to stay on task. I think the colorful pictures also get attention from nosey students.

I have been working on my monitoring of the classroom. I am really trying to hone in on the students that are lacking in skills and afraid to ask questions. I am trying to get to each student at a one on one level to ensure tasks are being completed during the course. I feel that from observations that I watched how other teachers monitor to improve on mine. As I walk around I can hear and notice things from an other level, I like to talk with the students one to one eye level. Having more student work time allows for them to do the work instead of me showing them what is to be done.

Personal addition:
Things have been going well here in Maine. We recently had a hail storm that provided a wonderful 4" of ice on the ground. I have been getting closer to my friends here and I have been able to stay close with my family. The weather seems to be getting on everyones nerves including mine. I am ready for my vacation with Logan and to have my job interview in April.  Living at the dorms tends to get under my skin. The kids are constantly being needy as I would expect since they are high school guys and there are so many of them. I think that there is just too much going on in the dorms and teaching and trying to be part of things at school that have been tough recently. I am learning to live and adapt to surroundings with so many different cultures. This has been an incredible learning experience for myself to teach later English learning students. I am very glad for this time I have. I complain a lot but the guys have been great mostly.

Next week I conquer, "Is this right?" The worst question on the planet!

Mr. Shannon, you need to be an old teacher. Cell Phone Snatcher.

Great news,

The phones have started to disappear from sight, and by sight I mean period. As I am a younger teacher I am hip to the crotch texting skills that kids think I feel off the truck yesterday
"Mr. shannon, you should be old. then we can text and talk about you behind your back and you can't hear us." I take that a compliment. Please, send more my way guys. Bring it on!

After one week of the "house of cell," (A box that is used to collect phones that are out during lecture of off task during co=operative learning). I have seen such a drop in the number of phones that are out and being a distraction in my class. Kids rather have their phones put up in their bag than into my box. If it is in the box they will not have a chance to listen to music during group working or individual works as well. this has also helped in note taking. I think it has increased the engagement with my students.

I can relate with the kids, just six months ago I was in class texting about how dumb my class was to typically to classmates. However, I was paying for my degree and I was able to put the device down and do work in class as well. 1 have only had to take about one or two phones from the "high profile" students before the whole class has straightened up pretty quickly. It is becoming almost a game of mine to find them as well which really stinks because I have great eyes.

I feel that this recently work requires me to continue into another area of management. I am going to work on making sure that transitions into new topics are far more smooth and that I allow kids the time to get into gear. this will help by starting on time better with a warm up exercise that gets the kids working at the bell and that I make new statements in the same place of the room every time. I think that the understanding of direction will place the students onto the same plane and learning atmosphere as myself and we will think as a unit to increase the learning community. I think this will also establish more terms of understanding that this is my classroom that they are learning in, not a fun zone that happens to have math in it.

Things have been continuing to get better as the year is going on. I am so happy that I get chances to see my co-workers and I am really starting to enjoy this place. I have been thinking of transitioning back to Georgia but like any great movie the 3/4 part always makes things sappy so that the end will be tear jerker. My company here increasingly gets cooler and more fun. I really feel myself around this crew with no judgement and just chilling with good smart people that make me laugh so much. Life here is great and things are going well. We are freezing our tails off and into our heads in snow but the company we have here will surpass any crazy weather the coast of Maine will throw at us.

I'm hoping for an interest soon as well. :)

Also, I love my best friend in the world so much, I can't wait to see her in a month and talk more about living together!

Weekly Skills- Management

Weekly Skills 1

I have decided that I am going to start weekly to focus more on how I can tackle to enrich my classroom. I hope that slowly I can continue to create a better learning environment. I think that my first assignment will be a running one as many have told me via coworkers and literature that it will take years to find my flow and my style that is best of me to produce my best teaching works. I think that this task will start to produce a better demeanor for myself which will in turn, help to foster better learning in my classroom. 

I have started with a box from cell. This is a nice cardboard box with a visual linning and bubble wrap. This creates a beautiful nesting ground for cell phones that will provide me that ability to not "take" a phone but instead move it's location. The physique here is less confrontational with students. 

I have started to retain focus when conducting lecture within the class. I have an innate ability to digress from topic frequently and I reflection shows that this needs to be corrected if I am going to ask the same to be done of my students. I have seen success in the box from cell. I am going to focus in the later part of the week on keeping tasks with my students. Off-color comments that change the dynamic structure and flow of the course are making the other students both annoyed and off task as well. This is lessening my strength as the leader and overtone of the course. 

Next week we are working on questioning, and classroom banter. How I can transition questions back within the classroom exchange and encourage students to answer verbally in front of their peers. 

Personal Bit:

Recently I have applied for a couple of jobs out of the state back to where I graduated college. Here I am loving the beautiful life, family, school, friends, and of course school. However, I am missing a large part which is my best friend and a partner. I am missing cheerleading that is placed as a priority. My niece have all had birthdays and their a bit older which means days of lap sitting and bath time are ending. I love the time I have with them, I wish for more and this move would do the opposite. School has been going and I have taken upon myself to become a better teacher by observation and reflection. I do not want to settle for being a good teacher but a great teacher. 

Yes I am a teacher, and I have a life.

The rights of passage known as an awkward high school dance:

This last week I had the mighty honor again of being asked to chaperone a dance. I think that being asked speaks pretty high about me, or that we are pretty desperate for chaperones. Fingers crossed for the first excuse. I like to post in my class when clubs are meeting, sporting events are going on and major things in the town such as community dinners. This shows that kids that I care about what they do outside and that I am aware that there is life outside of my amazing epic math class. These notifications are more of a reminder to me that I need to get outside and see my kids in their natural environment. The students love to hear that their teacher showed up, as a teacher this should be a requirement. It seems taxing at first but as your kids excel from Freshmen to Varsity it is inspring to see them change in and outside of the classroom, maybe that is why I like my small school, I know all the kids on the sports teams, in the play, being my waitstaff at the local restaurant. 

I make it my job, goal leaves room for failure, to attend one event a week. I want these kids to see my face at their major event so that they see I care about them more than just a number in a book. I want them to understand that I experience me outside of the classroom wearing normal clothes hollering for the home team and also showing them that I am a human as well. That I care for more than adding numbers in my head quickly or providing boring homework/tests that seem impossible without my guiding hand. 

Speaking with Mr. H. at the meeting of the minds, or the school valentines dance, he concurred my theory. He has also made it a precedent that he attends one of everything each year. This way he is not bias towards a sports group, club, etc. I think this is a great goal for all teachers to set for themselves. I do not know much but what I do know is that as a kid I loved seeing the support of my teachers, they were like a second parent to me. Many kids, like mine, have parents who work hard to provide them with the ability to play the sport and thus miss a bunch of playing time, and to see an adult face that cares and wants you to do well was very inspiring to me. 

This week I have heard" This class sucks" More than usual. I am being told that my subject is awful but I'm the best. Why I am confused is happening more often. I think that students are being too open with me about things, I am no offended but I am not cool with this. Why does no one want to learn math anymore? It clearly can not be a topic that we provide as an elective. I am trying ways to make math more engaging, productive and enjoyable, however there are only so many ways to skin a cat before the cat is bare. Kids are surrendered to the all powerful cellphone and seek instant results and gratification to which I can not provide any...yet! I will crack this code and I do welcome such a challenge that this new class brings. Each go around provides a learning opportunity and learning is why I teach. 

Lastly, When is it ok to apply to a new location and leave? Would I be considered a flight risk if after a year I was unhappy and left. Is what I am upset about looking to be prevalent at most schools? I am weighing my options heavily. Lots to think about in the cold weather, and the grass is always greener somewhere else when you have no grass at all. 

Snowdays: Students vs. Teachers

Who do you think likes to have a snow day more, teacher or student?

Giving you some back story I live in Maine at a semi private boarding school. I live with about 50 boys from around the world and I have 12 that I mentor on a weekly basis. We are like a very large extended family, to which i am their "dad." I try to guide them on life choices teach them about life and above all help prepare them for life after high school should it be here or anywhere. A good example, I had to teach Fly and George how to hammer and screw, quite the adventure. When you live with a bunch of teenage pre/post and everything in between puberty boys a snow day can be like winning the mega millions with your last dollar, but little do they know, I am also thinking that I have stroke gold.

Being a teacher I have realized that a snow day is liked just as much by me as it is by the students. Sure I can not stand that we are going to lose a day of instruction and I might have to move my test to the next day, etc. I wake up today half awake and busted out my room to check and see if the snow looked to be accumulated enough to be a good chance. There was no snow, however the forecast was very expressive of the potential danger and thus, we closed!

There is a true benefit to teaching up in the north, other than the high rigor and the beautiful scenery, there is the occasional snow day. The thought of being able to stay in sweats and get even further ahead drink coffee all day and not have to answer a million questions about the directions I just gave sounds wonderful to me. Teachers want a break too and sometimes more than the students. a snow day allows me that chance to really get a solid handle on the week and more of lessons. Sure thinking that I am going to have to make this all up on the other end is frustrating but at the moment I am very very happy. My feet are up I am ahead of schedule I have no kids and life is good.
I love my kids and I love teaching this job has given me the most but I think that I am ok to say that teachers like to have a break more than the students. since we have no chances to run errands, get ahead, organize, clean, and enjoy a good cup of coffee. Enven more when you life with boys from all over the world.

The snow is still falling and though I tell all the guys, "it will pigs will fly before we have two snow days in a row," it would be a lie if I told you I did not do a little snow day dance again just in case. Couldn't hurt.

Reteaching, why it's not as boring as you think.

Will you become a recorder, can a monkey/parakey do this job?

The school I work at is on a semester schedules. Research will go both ways on the productivity on having such a long class and ending half way through a year and blah blah blah. My blog is about teaching not research. Anyway, we have turned over and I am teaching the same two courses again. My worst nightmare, that I am going to be placed as the "FST teacher" and fall into the slump of teaching the same subject twice a year for each year for the rest of my life until I sound like the teacher from Charlie Brown.

This is not the case, as I found recently. As I have started to teach lessons for the second time I am better prepared, more confident, and able to look for more connections though out the topics. I am able to locate topics that created large struggle and those that were not really needed. This is my first repeat however i am finding myself more interested in doing it better. I want this course to run smoother, more activities, self discovery, task learning, questioning, and higher cognitive thinking. I want to actually apply what my 50 thousand dollar graduate schooling told me to apply. This is what excites me, this is why I know, I am not able to be replaced by a tape recorded.

The already planned lessons have given me that ability to be more stern in the classroom, be better at getting kids to the board, enrich learning so that everyone has a chance to understand. I am prepared for questions that are going to stump the kids, but I am also surprised to the knowledge each class brings.
I spoke with a older mentor science teacher this morning at brunch, he has been very welcoming and helpful. To have a well experienced teacher who has taught all levels including AP talk and interact with you as an equal has been inspiring and motivating. i am sure I will speak of him more often as I interact frequently with Mr. H. An ex-service man I find talking to him to be like my dad, and it is why I encourage the conversation. He has been a great mentor and guider, constantly enforcing me that my path is correct and I am doing great work, similar to my father as well. Mr. H, spoke with me about repeat teaching and that it has enriched him to create better labs, enforce topics that will later create less questions when teaching the same students in a high course. He has been able to intergrate subject topics and encourage learning.

I hoep that this reteaching will keep pressing me forward to try new activities to enrich learning styles in my classroom. This will also help me to have many new problems to differentiate learning for those students in my course that are special. I want to teach all levels of learners in mathematics and I feel that I can connect very well with all as well. I seek trust from my students and motivation to succeed. I can build on these structures as I teach more material and become better versed in topic areas. Like working out I do not want to become stronger in specific muscles I do not only want to be well equipped in one topic of mathematics. Later as I have mastered one topic I will hope to venture into other subject areas of math and round myself. I want to be the perfect circle of teaching mathematics.

I hope this is a realistic goal for teaching.

Ryan