Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Photo Essay: My Little Brother
I will say that I miss my little brother. He's in 9th grade now, and I never get to see him play football because I coach on Friday nights. He looks up to me, and we talk a lot. He's a much better athlete than I could ever be, and he's a whole lot smarter. So, here are a few photos of my little (big) brother...
He plays the sports I played (and now coach). It's kind of crazy that I teach kids that are the same age as my little brother. I hope he's proud of his big brother, because I'm definitely proud of him. I love my little brother.
Thoughts on the Portfolios...
Well,
I guess I haven't thought much about my portfolio yet. I do have a lot of pictures (mostly sports). I don't know if I'm avoiding the inevitable, or if it just hasn't made it to the top of my priority list yet. Either way, I know that I have a lot of work to, based on what I saw from last year's class. Last year's class had some very strong portfolios. I can tell that they all put in a considerable amount of work and effort. I liked the portfolios that had a distinct theme. I understand that the evaluators like that. Also, I think enjoyed the photo essays the most. Some of the portfolios had very nice info about their communities. It showed that those people really took time to immerse themselves in the culture of where they were teaching.
I liked the videos that showed a progression in teaching and classroom management, but there were a few portfolios that had too many videos. I don't think I'll have many on mine. I know that creativity is not one of my strongest assets, but I know that I'm going to have to find some somewhere so that I can compete with everyone else's portfolios. I want to have the best portfolio, and I really want to show what my two year experience is like. Oh well, I know what I must do now...time to get to it!
I guess I haven't thought much about my portfolio yet. I do have a lot of pictures (mostly sports). I don't know if I'm avoiding the inevitable, or if it just hasn't made it to the top of my priority list yet. Either way, I know that I have a lot of work to, based on what I saw from last year's class. Last year's class had some very strong portfolios. I can tell that they all put in a considerable amount of work and effort. I liked the portfolios that had a distinct theme. I understand that the evaluators like that. Also, I think enjoyed the photo essays the most. Some of the portfolios had very nice info about their communities. It showed that those people really took time to immerse themselves in the culture of where they were teaching.
I liked the videos that showed a progression in teaching and classroom management, but there were a few portfolios that had too many videos. I don't think I'll have many on mine. I know that creativity is not one of my strongest assets, but I know that I'm going to have to find some somewhere so that I can compete with everyone else's portfolios. I want to have the best portfolio, and I really want to show what my two year experience is like. Oh well, I know what I must do now...time to get to it!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
First Day of School: Second Edition
Well,
The first day of school this year was easy. Not much to report. I guess the greatest thing was that my polka-dot bow tie was the subject of a lot of conversation. The principal introduced me as the "new coach on campus," and that was basically it. I knew a lot of the boys already because I'd been on campus with football workouts for about three weeks.
Organization was great, and we only held kids in the gym for about 15 minutes. We followed the normal bell schedule, and the day went by very smoothly. It was refreshing to have high schoolers this time. I love the 7th grade babies, but I feel at home with high school.
I will say that I was exhausted by the end of 6th period. I have classes from 7:45-2:45. 1st and 3rd period is English I, 2nd period is English III, and 4th-6th periods are all English II. Every kid on campus knows my name already, and apparently they all heard that I was "mean" by the end of the first day. So, I guess the day was a success. I scared some kids, I didn't have to hold classes for hours, and I didn't feel like a first-year teacher. Moreover, we had a great football practice after school. I was comfortable and it was a good day.
The first day of school this year was easy. Not much to report. I guess the greatest thing was that my polka-dot bow tie was the subject of a lot of conversation. The principal introduced me as the "new coach on campus," and that was basically it. I knew a lot of the boys already because I'd been on campus with football workouts for about three weeks.
Organization was great, and we only held kids in the gym for about 15 minutes. We followed the normal bell schedule, and the day went by very smoothly. It was refreshing to have high schoolers this time. I love the 7th grade babies, but I feel at home with high school.
I will say that I was exhausted by the end of 6th period. I have classes from 7:45-2:45. 1st and 3rd period is English I, 2nd period is English III, and 4th-6th periods are all English II. Every kid on campus knows my name already, and apparently they all heard that I was "mean" by the end of the first day. So, I guess the day was a success. I scared some kids, I didn't have to hold classes for hours, and I didn't feel like a first-year teacher. Moreover, we had a great football practice after school. I was comfortable and it was a good day.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Letter to the Rookies
Hello Rookies,
This is DK, and I have some simple advice. Be confident, know your stuff, and don't be afraid to lead. You are going to be inundated with instructions, words of wisdom, and forewarnings. I'll let Ben, Ann, Dr. Mullins, and everyone else do that for you. I just want you guys to know that confidence goes a long way. It is immediately conveyed to your students that you aren't second guessing yourself. It also shows the other teachers around you that you aren't tip-toeing around like you're scared. Lastly, it always makes you feel like you're in control of every situation.
Know your stuff basically means that you have to be knowledgeable about as much as you can. The most important thing is obviously your content knowledge. If you don't have a good grasp on that, then you will be deemed ineffective. Once you have that down pat, make sure you are aware of surroundings, events, policies, etc. Having a good grasp of pertinent information can be very beneficial because you will find yourselves in a variety of situations--all of which you can't be totally prepared for in summer training.
DON'T BE AFRAID TO LEAD. I'm not saying that you should step into your new situations (summer school/ your assigned school) trying to take over. Since you're in the program now, you must have some leadership qualities about yourselves. Use those qualities. Make sure you show everyone around that you can be trusted to make things happen. If you develop leadership skills through the summer school program, you will position yourselves to step into those types of roles in the fall.
We'll get to know each other this summer, and throughout the year, but I think that this little letter will help you out. BE CONFIDENT, KNOW YOUR STUFF, AND DON'T BE AFRAID TO LEAD!!!
This is DK, and I have some simple advice. Be confident, know your stuff, and don't be afraid to lead. You are going to be inundated with instructions, words of wisdom, and forewarnings. I'll let Ben, Ann, Dr. Mullins, and everyone else do that for you. I just want you guys to know that confidence goes a long way. It is immediately conveyed to your students that you aren't second guessing yourself. It also shows the other teachers around you that you aren't tip-toeing around like you're scared. Lastly, it always makes you feel like you're in control of every situation.
Know your stuff basically means that you have to be knowledgeable about as much as you can. The most important thing is obviously your content knowledge. If you don't have a good grasp on that, then you will be deemed ineffective. Once you have that down pat, make sure you are aware of surroundings, events, policies, etc. Having a good grasp of pertinent information can be very beneficial because you will find yourselves in a variety of situations--all of which you can't be totally prepared for in summer training.
DON'T BE AFRAID TO LEAD. I'm not saying that you should step into your new situations (summer school/ your assigned school) trying to take over. Since you're in the program now, you must have some leadership qualities about yourselves. Use those qualities. Make sure you show everyone around that you can be trusted to make things happen. If you develop leadership skills through the summer school program, you will position yourselves to step into those types of roles in the fall.
We'll get to know each other this summer, and throughout the year, but I think that this little letter will help you out. BE CONFIDENT, KNOW YOUR STUFF, AND DON'T BE AFRAID TO LEAD!!!
Teacher Skill I Want to Work On...
When I began to blog last summer I knew that one of the most important factors of my growth as a teacher would be reflection. The ability to reflect, and the resolve to implement changes from reflection, are things that I have been working on. That said, I know what aspect of my teaching needs to be tweaked. Interestingly, this epiphany came through teaching a unit on fables.
After the MCT2, I knew the kids would be exhausted with school. Nevertheless, they knew that we would continue to have "real school" in my classroom until the very last day. I was searching to find something that would be relevant and interesting. I chose fables. Fables seemed like a good idea because I knew I could incorporate Character Education. Introducing the kids to simple stories that taught valuable life lessons gave us a way to do some reading, easily comprehend, and apply the lessons to our lives. I told them that I would be doing self-reflection along with them. So, we read this very simple fable called "The Wind and the Sun."
Here it is...The wind and the sun were arguing about which of them was stronger. They agreed to a test, the winner being he who could make a traveler remove his coat. The wind blew hard and tried to tear off the traveler's coat, but the traveler only wrapped it around him more tightly. When the pleasant sun warmed the traveler, he took off his coat.
This short fable was so powerful to me. The moral is that "kindness sometimes works better than force." How does this apply to me? Well, I approach my classroom like I approach coaching. This can be good and bad--depending on the situation. I've learned that I have to dial down the intensity in the classroom sometimes because it can be a bit intimidating and off-putting to the kids. I'm not saying that I'm going to be less passionate, but I know that if I want to be as effective a teacher as possible, I must be able to use different approaches in the classroom to obtain the desired results.
I am definitely going to work on this during the Extended Year Program. I want to be conscious of when I can handle situations differently. Moreover, I know that an adjusted approach will endear me to more students, more quickly. I just want to make sure I have this skill honed when school resumes in August...I know it will greatly benefit me.
After the MCT2, I knew the kids would be exhausted with school. Nevertheless, they knew that we would continue to have "real school" in my classroom until the very last day. I was searching to find something that would be relevant and interesting. I chose fables. Fables seemed like a good idea because I knew I could incorporate Character Education. Introducing the kids to simple stories that taught valuable life lessons gave us a way to do some reading, easily comprehend, and apply the lessons to our lives. I told them that I would be doing self-reflection along with them. So, we read this very simple fable called "The Wind and the Sun."
Here it is...The wind and the sun were arguing about which of them was stronger. They agreed to a test, the winner being he who could make a traveler remove his coat. The wind blew hard and tried to tear off the traveler's coat, but the traveler only wrapped it around him more tightly. When the pleasant sun warmed the traveler, he took off his coat.
This short fable was so powerful to me. The moral is that "kindness sometimes works better than force." How does this apply to me? Well, I approach my classroom like I approach coaching. This can be good and bad--depending on the situation. I've learned that I have to dial down the intensity in the classroom sometimes because it can be a bit intimidating and off-putting to the kids. I'm not saying that I'm going to be less passionate, but I know that if I want to be as effective a teacher as possible, I must be able to use different approaches in the classroom to obtain the desired results.
I am definitely going to work on this during the Extended Year Program. I want to be conscious of when I can handle situations differently. Moreover, I know that an adjusted approach will endear me to more students, more quickly. I just want to make sure I have this skill honed when school resumes in August...I know it will greatly benefit me.
Track Season Recap
When I last blogged about track it was the beginning of the season. We had tryouts, training camp, and one practice meet. I was very encouraged about our performance at that practice meet. Well, the season ended up being one of the most rewarding and successful few months of my life. Our team did tremendously well. We only had four meets, but the kids excelled in all of them.
We went to Marshall Academy for our first meet. Marshall Academy has Varsity and Junior Varsity meets at the same time. We were in the JV division, but that also means that the other teams had 9th graders on their squads. We only had 7th and 8th graders. As a matter of fact, we only had 15 total kids. That didn't matter to us. We went out there against established programs and took 1st Place Overall! The most amazing part of our overall win was that we only had two girls! The team was very encouraged about the performance. We went back to Marshall Academy the next week against stiffer competition. We took 1st Place Boys JV for that meet. The kids were collecting individual and team ribbons, cheering for each other at the fences, and even encouraging the coaches at the meets. It was so good to establish that team rapport and coherence early in the season. Moreover, it was great to have two weeks of competitive meets before the biggest meet of the year at Oxford.
We went to the Oxford Relays Invitational for our third meet. There were a lot of good schools there with really good teams. It was all public schools, and there wasn't one weak team out of the eight. When we went to Oxford for the practice meet, we looked a little shabby--no spikes, old uniforms, no warmups. We got off the bus looking like a team this time. It definitely made a difference to go down to a big meet with big schools and look like a real squad. The kids were confident, and we had two first place showings under our belt at that point. Some of the kids who struggled at the earlier meets stepped up at this meet, and we posted some of our best times/distances of the season. We took 3rd Place Boys at the Oxford meet. We weren't happy about 3rd place, but we knew that we only finished behind Oxford and Lafayette--two well-established programs. The Oxford meet was a learning experience, and it gave us the fuel to train as hard as possible for our last meet at Coldwater.
We went to Coldwater with one goal in mind. We wanted to win every event, and guarantee a first place finish. There were some strong schools there, but we knew that we had seen the best already. We did tremendously well at the Coldwater meet, taking 1st Place Overall! We scored 93 total points in that meet. We dominated the individual events, especially the distance and throwing events.
At the awards day, I made sure to remind everyone that we had the best team on campus this year. Our kids worked tremendously hard. I took them through workouts that I did in college, and they stuck with me. With a practice plan in hand everyday, whistle and stopwatch around my neck, and parachute thrown over the shoulder, they knew that we were going to outwork every other middle school in Mississippi. I appreciate my kids. They're a special bunch. I hate that I will not have the opportunity to coach them next year. Whoever has the opportunity to coach them next year will be blessed with the chance to work with some truly exceptional kids. I appreciate what I learned from my athletes, and I hope they appreciated/learned something from me as well. Track season was amazing, and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.....Never Get Outworked!
We went to Marshall Academy for our first meet. Marshall Academy has Varsity and Junior Varsity meets at the same time. We were in the JV division, but that also means that the other teams had 9th graders on their squads. We only had 7th and 8th graders. As a matter of fact, we only had 15 total kids. That didn't matter to us. We went out there against established programs and took 1st Place Overall! The most amazing part of our overall win was that we only had two girls! The team was very encouraged about the performance. We went back to Marshall Academy the next week against stiffer competition. We took 1st Place Boys JV for that meet. The kids were collecting individual and team ribbons, cheering for each other at the fences, and even encouraging the coaches at the meets. It was so good to establish that team rapport and coherence early in the season. Moreover, it was great to have two weeks of competitive meets before the biggest meet of the year at Oxford.
We went to the Oxford Relays Invitational for our third meet. There were a lot of good schools there with really good teams. It was all public schools, and there wasn't one weak team out of the eight. When we went to Oxford for the practice meet, we looked a little shabby--no spikes, old uniforms, no warmups. We got off the bus looking like a team this time. It definitely made a difference to go down to a big meet with big schools and look like a real squad. The kids were confident, and we had two first place showings under our belt at that point. Some of the kids who struggled at the earlier meets stepped up at this meet, and we posted some of our best times/distances of the season. We took 3rd Place Boys at the Oxford meet. We weren't happy about 3rd place, but we knew that we only finished behind Oxford and Lafayette--two well-established programs. The Oxford meet was a learning experience, and it gave us the fuel to train as hard as possible for our last meet at Coldwater.
We went to Coldwater with one goal in mind. We wanted to win every event, and guarantee a first place finish. There were some strong schools there, but we knew that we had seen the best already. We did tremendously well at the Coldwater meet, taking 1st Place Overall! We scored 93 total points in that meet. We dominated the individual events, especially the distance and throwing events.
At the awards day, I made sure to remind everyone that we had the best team on campus this year. Our kids worked tremendously hard. I took them through workouts that I did in college, and they stuck with me. With a practice plan in hand everyday, whistle and stopwatch around my neck, and parachute thrown over the shoulder, they knew that we were going to outwork every other middle school in Mississippi. I appreciate my kids. They're a special bunch. I hate that I will not have the opportunity to coach them next year. Whoever has the opportunity to coach them next year will be blessed with the chance to work with some truly exceptional kids. I appreciate what I learned from my athletes, and I hope they appreciated/learned something from me as well. Track season was amazing, and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.....Never Get Outworked!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Letter to Second Years...
Second Years,
I'm not exactly sure what I can tell you at this point. You're less than a week from graduation, and about two weeks from the completion of your teaching experiences. I probably should be asking you how you felt at this point last year, and what you did to maintain sanity and motivation. Nevertheless, I do applaud you guys for sticking it out. Embracing new things, new people, new surroundings, and new challenges is a daunting task. You should be proud of yourselves because you are now able to say that you did more than embrace all of these new things--you excelled through all of them. I don't have to tell you that you've made an impact on your kids, or that you've grown exponentially as a person. I do have to tell you that your job, and the work you've done, is not as thankless as you may think. You are appreciated by more people than you know; they just don't tell you. For what it's worth, I appreciate you for what you've accomplished. Your direct and indirect modeling last summer, the impromptu talks, and interesting blog posts have been very helpful to me. Again, I thank you all for what you've done. I am looking forward to being in your position a year from now.....and hopefully someone will thank me too.
Coach Huff,
Boy, do I hate Millsaps. Boy, do I hate Millsaps. Boy, do I hate Millsaps. That said, I am glad we had the opportunity to get to know each other besides our Rhodes/Millsaps rivalry. Yeah, we played against each other in college, but we have so much more in common than that. We immediately clicked at summer school last summer and it blossomed into a Mentor/Mentee relationship. It was great that we were both in Byhalia because we've basically seen each other almost everyday. That was the convenience we had that was different from the other mentor/mentee relationships. We talk about teaching, school, FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL, and track. I call you "little man," because you are...and you always say, "I'm the little man with the SCAC championship rings, chief." I know that we've forged a true friendship and I appreciate how helpful it has been to me this year. Do it big down there at MSU, and get the Ph.D. Then we can finally go somewhere and take over a football program. That's the plan...stick to it, CHIEF!
Second Years.....congratulations on making it through the program. I know you'll all move on to bigger and better things because you have the same degree as Ben!
DK
I'm not exactly sure what I can tell you at this point. You're less than a week from graduation, and about two weeks from the completion of your teaching experiences. I probably should be asking you how you felt at this point last year, and what you did to maintain sanity and motivation. Nevertheless, I do applaud you guys for sticking it out. Embracing new things, new people, new surroundings, and new challenges is a daunting task. You should be proud of yourselves because you are now able to say that you did more than embrace all of these new things--you excelled through all of them. I don't have to tell you that you've made an impact on your kids, or that you've grown exponentially as a person. I do have to tell you that your job, and the work you've done, is not as thankless as you may think. You are appreciated by more people than you know; they just don't tell you. For what it's worth, I appreciate you for what you've accomplished. Your direct and indirect modeling last summer, the impromptu talks, and interesting blog posts have been very helpful to me. Again, I thank you all for what you've done. I am looking forward to being in your position a year from now.....and hopefully someone will thank me too.
Coach Huff,
Boy, do I hate Millsaps. Boy, do I hate Millsaps. Boy, do I hate Millsaps. That said, I am glad we had the opportunity to get to know each other besides our Rhodes/Millsaps rivalry. Yeah, we played against each other in college, but we have so much more in common than that. We immediately clicked at summer school last summer and it blossomed into a Mentor/Mentee relationship. It was great that we were both in Byhalia because we've basically seen each other almost everyday. That was the convenience we had that was different from the other mentor/mentee relationships. We talk about teaching, school, FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL, and track. I call you "little man," because you are...and you always say, "I'm the little man with the SCAC championship rings, chief." I know that we've forged a true friendship and I appreciate how helpful it has been to me this year. Do it big down there at MSU, and get the Ph.D. Then we can finally go somewhere and take over a football program. That's the plan...stick to it, CHIEF!
Second Years.....congratulations on making it through the program. I know you'll all move on to bigger and better things because you have the same degree as Ben!
DK
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