A New Year, A New Semester (aka the longest post ever)

I've been freaking out about what to teach next semester. I am not teaching either of the two classes I taught last semester, so all of my gorgeous ideas for how to better my lessons matter, oh, not so much. From square one, I look out once more into the chaos that is everything in the whole world that I could and should teach and get pissy, overextended and anxious. For example, I couldn't decide what book to teach to my 9th graders, so over the break, I read almost 6 books that were contenders. Does that make sense when I could have been planning everything else I need to do next semester? Maybe not so much. Yet, I am what I am. I've always worked this way, the L-O-N-G way. I forgive myself because I know I learn a lot in the process of beating around the bush.

I feel really fortunate to receive great and helpful comments on this blog. They help me to process and look at things from multiple perspectives. I took bits and pieces of some fabulous comments that Lectrice over at Blackboard Jungle left on a post of mine that invited reflection and responded.

Some of the factors that affect what books you teach are:

1) How much support material for planning lessons already exists? If there's little to none, you will have to do every single worksheet and plan and really stretch yourself to keep up with / on top of all your students. If that's one class per term, that's interesting - any more classes than that, and you're drawing energy away from the actual job of teaching, and that's not helping your students.

For some reason, I always feel the need to reinvent the wheel. I am totally open to using the ideas and materials of others, but I hardly ever do. First, I am really independent, but I am working on getting over that. Second, the process of figuring out what and how to teach something helps me teach it. Last semester I did a mix of things I came up with on my own, things I took from co-teachers and things I found on-line. I performed better on my own lessons mostly because I understood them more fully. My new plan is to take advantage of the experience of others but plan enough in advance so I can tweak and shape the lessons in my own way.

Also, why do kids like worksheets so much? My guess is that they are programmed for them. My grad school was very big on limiting worksheets and lectures, so I don’t have really have any experience developing them. I was always making my students do some huge, complicated project, so when the rare worksheet came their way, they said they actually felt like they were “learning something.” Harrumph.

2) Are other teachers in your department teaching these novels? They're an utterly invaluable resource - if you ever get the opportunity to swap ideas or plan in tandem with a colleague on the same book for the same term, it raises your game massively.

All of the books on my list have been taught before, so I assume I will have access to the other teachers' materials. Most of the teachers in my department have been helpful and willing to help me with planning and materials. It is a huge help. When I taught the Inferno, I knew what I wanted to do but had no idea how to do it. Another teacher sat down with me and my messy "plans" (i.e. post-it notes and backs of discarded homework assignments) and gave me the structure I needed to have a real unit.

3) Did the students do a difficult text last term? However well they did, you need to think about their approach. Children find it discouraging to *always* find reading hard. Could there not be a seesaw effect - one hard text, one fun text, one challenging text, one relaxing/interesting text etc? Can you recall a teacher who ever pushed you to go further than you felt you were capable off every term, or did they manage your learning so that you enjoyed your study, and balanced that with pushing you further than you knew you could go?

My school is on block scheduling, so in previous years, students have only had one semester of English per year. Last year, we got the money and permission to require another semester of English for 9th graders. First semester, 9th graders write. They learn to recognize the different modes of writing, learn to write in each mode and use proper grammar. So, aside from some random non-fiction stuff I brought in and extra credit independent reading, there was no reading. Second semester, they read. They learn to recognize different genres and analyze texts.

I really thought about the last part of this question.Your idea about balancing out the hard with the fun will definitely inform my plan for next semester. Even though I'd never thought about sequencing that way, it makes so much sense. Not only will it work for the kids, I think it will work for me. Like most creative, right-brained folks, I work well in spurts. So, thanks to your thought and some teacherly advice over brunch from my friend Amy, instead of going straight from the Odyssey to Romeo and Juliet, I will do 2-3 weeks of poetry in between.

Another question - I can't understand how some of those titles register as 'world lit' and not in the other categories? 8 of them are british, and 8 american lit, as far as I can see. What's the criteria? Is the category merely setting? In the which case, Brave New World and Handmaid's Tale should be set in Chronologicallly futuristic Lit, no?

I'm with you. I love that each teacher has almost total freedom to choose books. We just can't teach something taught in another grade. However, I would be a strong supporter of some kind of review process. I don't want to censor, but I want the books we teach to make sense. I went on a rant earlier about World Literature that some of you may remember (heh heh). While right now I have the freedom to pick my own books, with NCLB, eventually we will be required to use standardized syllabi, books and lessons. The only other teacher that does World Lit is super cool and has a fantastic class. To me, though, it isn't World Lit. It's like calling my 10th grade class African American Literature because I will teach a long unit on slave narratives and read Raisin in the Sun. It's American Literature because I will also read that other stuff you associate with American Lit.

This isn't as big a deal, but I also really wish Catcher in the Rye was a 9th grade title. No good reason, it just feels like a 9th grade book. Also, there are so many other things to read in American Lit.

I decided, by the way, what novel to teach in 9th, but it's late and I have the last 40 blissful pages of The Time Traveler's Wife to read before I can sleep, so I'm going to leave you in suspense until tomorrow. What will it be??? Keep toes crossed for your favorite book.

Comments

Hi, I am a new teacher, just got my first official job. How do you get on a education blogger list or roll? My blog is chock full o links and what not, but haven't gotten that "big" yet. :) Congrats on your nomination. The blog world is a strange one. Please feel free to read mine. Though it's not always about teaching, I presume that beginning next week, ed related topics will thrive as I enter into this, my new career.

Posted by: Tamara | 02.01.2005 at 07:01 PM