The One Hour Do Now

Do Now: Name the 3 largest cities in the North in the 1800's.

What I thought would be a quick Do Now to get my 9th graders settle down and activate some prior knowledge from yesterday's lesson turned into a spontaneous 60 minute conversation ranging from the compass rose to the continental divide. It was one of the more interesting, exciting and enlightening periods I've had all year.

As he was working on the aforementioned Do Now, one student started calling out answers such as "Mexico" and "Georgia". Although this student can sometimes be a joker, his answers made me pause, so before we reviewed the Do Now I asked the class if, when they just guess apparently random answers, they are serious or not. When many responded they were serious (especially the student that guessed Mexico) I knew that I needed to slow things down and take the time to review some very basic information that I (wrongly) assumed that 9th graders would know.

I started by asking them to draw the compass rose in their notebook which most, but not all, got correct. We started to discuss the map of the United States, the compass rose and the geographical locations of major states and cities. We tied in our Essential Question for the unit ("How does where we live affect how we live?") by talking about how New Yorkers might view Maryland as being a Southern state, but those in Maryland don't. We were also able to touch on what I feel is the biggest historical understanding for them to take from my class: the seeds of the Civil War were sown with the geographical differences between the North and the South and the societies that were created as a result.

I learned a tremendous amount during first period today, including....

-My students know very little about basic geographical concepts, including directions and maps, a fact that is even worse to me since I use to spend the first month of my 6th grade class (and to a lesser extent my 7th grade) on geography.

-It's a lot of fun to just throw a lesson out and go with what the students are offering. It takes a little maneuvering but once you get the conversation going, the students natural curiosity will take over and all you have to do is jump in every so often to move the conversation along.

-Never assume students know anything. I've learned this lesson before but I obviously didn't learn it well enough. Tomorrow's lesson? Mapping the United States. Break out the atlases!

-Teaching is the best.

Remember the Good....

I have got to stop being surprised by the roller coaster of emotions that make up the life of a teacher.

One of my classes kicked the shit out of me today. Students talking, paper balls flying and a lesson that wasn't going anywhere made 4th period today one of the worst of my year. During the next period I had to have one of my advisees escorted out of class because she was ready to start a fight over a missing jacket. By lunch I was totally fried and the prospect of parent-teacher conferences later in the night wasn't making anything better. (My twitter feed from around this time reveals a lot about where I was mentally at the time)

I met with a number of parents tonight, but one in particular saved my day. I have a student who failed my class both first and second quarter. We were working on a project a few weeks back and it was starting to look like the third quarter would be more of the same. I pushed him to get to work and over the next few days, something clicked with him and he ended up doing his best work on the year. On the last day before Winter Break, I shared the good news with his adviser and later in the day he approached me (rather sheepishly) to ask if I would do the same with a phone call home to his mom. I left her a message that night and was able to meet her tonight at parent-teacher conferences. We discussed how much he has improved and that the past few weeks have marked a new beginning for him in my class. By the time we were done, his mother was in tears as she told him how proud she was of him. Her reaction, and the look of pride and accomplishment on his face absolutely made my day, one that had been pretty bad leading up to that point.

Teaching is really an amazing thing. There are times when the challenges of teaching can be completely overwhelming. During these times it's easy for a teacher to wonder if there's anything he or she can do to make things better, but then there are night's like tonight where you get to celebrate the joy of a successful student and a proud parent. It's important that we remember these times of joy when the tide rises against us.