Next Monday, September 24th, is the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (zhong qiu jie) which is one of the most important festivals in China. According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the 15th day of the 8th month is the exact middle of autumn; hence it is called the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is an evening celebration when families gather together to light lanterns, eat moon cakes and appreciate the round moon. I work to remember to have celebrations with my students. To celebrate both the large and the small, the success and the failure. Often teachers (or at least me as a teacher) get caught up in the things that have to happen (the standards, paperwork, and the bulletin boards), and we lose sight of the small successes that occur in our classrooms every day. Today in biology class we did a reading comprehension exercise. In this class, many of the students are experiencing an American style (English only) education for the first time. As we did, a whole class read out-loud many of the students were hesitant to read, because they did not know how to pronounce some of the words. After a short speech of encouragement that assured the reluctant students that the class works as a team, I was able to get two of the most hesitant students to read out loud. After each girl read her paragraph the class burst into applause. We all celebrated their success. While my students are not biological families, I am working to ensure that we build a positive school "family" environment where everyone feels safe enough to read a difficult passage and to ensure that we also celebrate everyone's successes. Not every celebration has to include moon cake or a lantern, but it is important to cultivate a culture of celebration in the classroom.
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As the first week of the 2018 - 2019 school year is finishing and I think back to what I have accomplished as a teacher this week. I would have to say not much. At least not much in the way of teaching science content. This week has been about getting to know the new kids and getting to (re)know the old ones. In my 6th-grade advisory class, we have set goals for the quarter (my goal is to have a weekly average of 10,000 steps). The students in my advisory are hard working and eager. I am excited to be able to see the start of their journey as upper school students. In physical science and biology, students worked to set classroom norms. Some of these included keeping the room at a warm temperature, having fun in class, and having an open mind. The kids worked to together, engaged in some discussion, and made posters to keep their class norms insight and on their minds. While the science teacher in me is ready to get into the lab and to get started on some serious science, building relationships and a positive class culture will help to ensure we have a great school year. In Rita Pierson's TED Talk she stated: "Kids don't learn from people they don't like." I have no false illusions that every student I teach will like me. Yet, I do strive for my classroom to be a safe place for every student. I look at the first week (or so) of school as a time to start to forge those relationships with students. To let them see that although I may not be their favorite person I am a person who has their best interest at heart, and most importantly I care about each and every student I encounter throughout the day as not just a student but as a person. This summer while in Prague I was asked by a professor to write a TED Talk style piece on the reason I teach. I enjoy teaching, but I had a difficult time finding anything of importance to say about the things that keep me showing up to school each and every day (outside of the things that all teacher say: love for the students, seeing the light bulb of understanding going off, etc.). I wrote a few drafts, but none of them seemed anything more than recycled cliches. During my hour long commute to class on the day, the assignment was due I was still unsatisfied with my talk. I thought about who I really am as a person and the impact that has on how and why I teach. The video below is the result of that Friday bus ride. |
Jamie HartA teacher from the United States of America, currently teaching abroad. I teach science to middle and high school students. I enjoy reading and doing nerd things. Archives
April 2023
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